Force 34 from Tokyo 3: END GAME
by TheJadeArcAngel
Summary: The final chapter in the WW2 / EVA saga is here: Heyates has been driven mad with grief over his lost life, Shinji will meet the Enemy and one warriors decission will decide the fate of the Children, the Eva's and the world: THE LAST CHAPTER
1. Prolouge: March to the Airfields

Prologue: March to the Airfields  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: This is the beginning of a massive story involving the characters from Neon Genesis in an epic struggle against a powerful enemy operating amid Nazi Germany during WW2. Although you do not need to read it, there is a prequel to this story entitled THE ASIER CHRONICLES. That prequel explains MANY elements you will come across in this story, such as why the hell Shinji and the gang are in WW2 to begin with, HOWEVER you do NOT have to have read the ASIER CHRONICLES at all to enjoy this story since everything will bee explained in due time. Reading the ASIER CHRONICLES is simply a fun thing to do if you want to have a little bit of "inside" info on certain things and characters backgrounds. The ending to ASIER however is revealed in this story (he he he) so if you HAVE read the entire ASIER storyline and thought "Hey, where the hell is the ending?" well you will have to read this to find out! I am so incredibly evil. ENJOY  
  
The Russian sky was as one might expect skies in war-time to be: gray like the skin of decaying men in their bombed out shelters, as hopeful as the sound of a falling bomb and as beautiful as the sight of a gun barrel in the face. Nothing was prosperous in this great expanse that was one Russia, not anymore. Not since Hitler. What were once massive cities of the great Communist paradise, were smoldering, twisted grave yards of iron and steel, where dead men held office and the dieing outnumbered those lucky enough to have survived the Luftwaffe bombing raids. The moral was terrible in the small abandoned building once known as a grocery store, now a war room for the Russian 34th Brigade from Moscow, the small band of men given the honor of fighting the Nazi threat and saving the glorious motherland from invasion. These poor souls would be lucky if they ever saw the light of day from beyond what would most likely become their war torn tomb. The stale air was filled with the scents of death intermingled with that of unabated Russian soldiers, a concoction strong enough to make the un- hardened soldier keel over and loose what little bit of lunch he had been fortunate enough to have stolen from the bombed out stores. However it was in some way a benefit to get that food out of their system since much of it was now rotten and ripe with all manner of diseases. The outskirts of what was once the glorious city called Stalingrad were now the frontlines of fools, zealots and patriots, where many went to be gunned down by the swift onslaught of German machine gun fire, or a swift demise at the shelling of a Stutka dive bomber. Here was not the place of cowards. The mighty production city along the Volga, named after the mighty leader Stalin himself, was a desolate and ravaged land. The Germans had named the resulting battles that began in 1942, Rattenkrieg or "War of the Rats". Stalingrad was now a bombed out maze of hidden routes, mines, barbed wire, bombing zones, machine gun emplacements, Russian garrisons, and the ever famous hunting grounds of the snipers, the only ones who seemed to be making any progress in the bloodbath. The area currently occupied by the 34th was once a peaceful little market district where food was unloaded and then transported into town and sold. Crates of foul, rotten and molding food were everywhere. The choking scent was inescapable, and it drove some mad. Many of the 34th wished to escape into the isolated machine shop districts to link up with their brothers in arms but escape by an open overland route was a short jaunt to suicide via the 44th panzer division that were station along the main roads leaning out of the food storage districts. The Germans knew full well of the 34ths massive munitions and choose to seal them inside the foul smelling and decayed warehouses rather than facer them openly and risk the possibility of their aide reaching the fighting forces with in the city. Isolated, hungry and now faced with starvation, the option of the 34th were growing slimmer by the night, nights filled with bombing runs and the sounds of germen dogs that were let loose to hunt amid the ruins. It was a combination of all these factors that made Shinji so pissed off. Shinji gripped his Mauser Kar98K and scanned the valley of barbed wire and concrete for anything to shoot, preferably one of the very rarest targets he and his comrade, Rei Aiyanami, were gunning for these few days: an SS Officer. As Shinji moved his eye along his sights he saw a small convoy of germen soldiers crossing beneath a trench system he had nicknamed "duck row" since all the green troopers passed along a narrowly enclosed route that lead them in procession along a tight trench system, their heads fully exposed to the whim of bullet fire. Their were sic 'ducks" in third group, probably fresh off the transport to boot. In the smoke filled dawn light Shinji could see Rei, her scopes aimed on the little germen duckies, same as Shinji. Shinji raised his arm to get Rei's attention and clenched his fist, a signal to open fire. With a few small exerts of their finger muscles, six bullets whizzed through the germen soldiers and dropped them all like stones. As soon as the shots were fired Shinji and Rei ran from their shooting posts, a common procedure for any sniper to do. Rei reached the injured little ducks first and saw not a decent ranking officer among them. Her riffle in their faces, the soldiers began to wail and beg in germen while Shinji emerged from the gay smoke to inspect their uniforms. As Shinji looked over the death scented refuse of the germen military he saw one of the soldiers had a blue cross insignia with a red pyramid upon its background. Rei saw his too and pointed her gun at the poor crying man's face. Shinji gave a small whistle. The soldiers then pissed their pants in unison as from the wreckage leapt out a young girl; her face covered in dust and mud, her eyes a blazing blue. Shinji smiled to the girl who then took out a long silver dagger, placing it against the insignia marked soldiers throat. In germen she began to muter something and the germen soldier stammered out a series of rants followed up by the usual plea to be left alive. The girl with the knife sighed as she picked herself up and went to give Shinji the man's reply.  
  
"He says he's never heard of her. His uniform was stolen from a dead soldier in France." The girl said, putting her knife away against her leg. Shinji looked at the girl's stern face and then at the sobbing germen soldier, who couldn't have been over twenty.  
  
"Do you believe his story Asuka?" The girl Asuka, looked up at Rei and nodded. Rei then unleashed a volley of gunfire into the trench, silencing the crying sounds with gurgles of blood. Shinji slung his riffle over his shoulder and motioned for the two women to follow him. Rei looked down at the pile of dead men, remembering their faces like she did every one of her victims. 27. Rei wiped away a small tear as she went to follow Asuka and Shinji back to their small base of operations. Shinji, at the age of only 15, was now ore of a soldier than most twice his age. But this was not his life, nor even his age of existence. Shinji Ikari, Rei Aiyanamai, Asuka Langley Shoyu. None of them or their friends belonged in this place, this valley in the shadow of death. He was here for a person and he would make it his soul purpose in life to find that person, his foe, his nemesis. As the three soldiers, none them even over the age of 18 came upon a small fork in the road, they knew they were in machine gun territory and would have to lay low, slinking along the alleyways and tunnel systems of destroyed buildings. Beside the main road was their usual entrance to the Labyrinth a sit was called: a collection of man0made trenches and tunnels amid buildings to provide snipers key position in shooting their targets without being seen. However in the past week, a few germens had sighted Rei and began to post garrisoned gun turrets at certain crossroads where snipers would often travel by. This made reporting in with the 34th a VERY hard thing to accomplish since, unknown to the krouts, they were actually at the 34th's front gates and didn't know it! But the simple fact was this: Shinji, Asuka and Rei had to try and either snip or sneak pat three machine gunners with clear lines of sight to one another. Shinji sat on his knees as Rei and Asuka huddled around him.  
  
"We know these machine gunners have a triangular position around the Bike factory, which is the location to the Labyrinth. If we shoot one, the noise and the sight of the dead man will alert the krourts to our position. If we can, in unison, shoot out the guards at their posts, then we can get by and sabotage the entrance, that will buy us time to have the 34th change the entrance."  
  
"But how will we get AROUND the guards in order to shoot them without being seen?" Rei said, here eyes observing a trio of bombers headed for the heart of the Tank Factory district.  
  
"Easy. One of us will move until we can see our designated target. Then, when the next trio of bombers passes by, in ten minutes by their schedule they have now, we will shoot as one. I say we shoot when the bombers pass behind the clock tower, to the west, that way we will all know when to shoot." Asuka looked up at the old bombed out clock tower and saw how the lack of clock faces made an excellent, multi visible, marker to look upon.  
  
"Lets go" Asuka said. Shinji stayed where he was and marked the front most guard as his target while Rei went for the rightmost station, giving Asuka the remaining leftmost gunner. Rei got on her stomach and began to pull herself along the broken and rubble littered street, against the sides of what were once stores, now shattered barriers for bullet fire. As Rei pulled herself along she paused to notice the gunner swiveling his turret right in her direction but not yet noticing her. Perfect. Raising her riffle to her elbow and using her arm as a support, Rei waited for the planes to pass by, her signal to make her number grow to 28. Elsewhere Asuka was busy running from structure to structure, trying to avoid her targets ever changing gaze. Her stupid target was the ever-cautious type who liked to change position at a random time, thinking he was to good to be snipped out by an Ivan soldier. Asuka needed to get some way to have her damn stupid gunner fix his gaze for a mere two minutes, the amount of time before the other would open fire and then be exposed! Grabbing a piece of bombed out concrete Asuka got an idea as she waited for the planes to fly overhead. Suddenly their could be seen over the horizon, the three stutka dive bombers form the germen reinforcement divisions. Asuka trained her eyes as they planes neared their destination: behind the clock towers scope- like clock face! Suddenly, just before the planes passed through their marker, Asuka hurled the stone against a glass window to her far left. As the glass shattered the hyper guard immediately spun his gun turret to the noises direction, and revealed his back to Asuka right as the planes were in their positions to signal the explosion of gunfire. In one loud burst the three snipers shot the heads of their designated targets clean off their necks. It was flawless. Now cleared of enemies, the three young snipers rose up and entered the blown out shop, where they crawled into an open tunnel which, after a good half hour of pulling ones self along, you entered an abandoned food storage warehouse, 45RT to be precise. Inside were all the members of the 34th, anxious for news of the ongoing krout offensive. Shinji emerged from the tunnel first and shook off his smut- covered clothes. From behind a makeshift desk sat a tall woman with long brown hair, her rank that of a major. The woman got up and went to help Asuka and Rei out of the trench-tunnel. A few other soldiers went to fetch what little clean water they could and offered it to the three weary snipers.  
  
'I'll give the krouts this: they're persistent little buggers. They've been stationing gun turrets outside out Labyrinth main sniper points for a week now and they're sending in more live targets to try and lure us out. They suppose we can either die fighting a loosening battle to shoot their decoy commanders or starve here in out abandoned warehouse." Shinji stated as she slugged down his water. The longhaired Major smiled as Rei and Asuka placed their riffles against a series of ammo crates.  
  
"Any ideas on how were going to get the hell out of here ma'am" Rei said to the major. The mayor, who went by the name Yui, pulled out a large document folder with the words TOP SECET written on it.  
  
"I just received these from our spies in the German high command chain here in Stalingrad. It shows the germens are going to lead the 44th through a series of bombed out building in the abandoned airfield districts, the ones that they are trying to bombard us from, in order to secure a phony threat of the 34th massive movement into the tank district via a false route." Asuka smiled as the full scope of the plan set in.  
  
"So while the germens are chasing us through a narrow and eventually deadening route, we will actually be escaping through their abandoned airfields!"  
  
"Bingo" Yu said in response  
  
"What's the catch" Asuka said, her tone now sarcastic in response to the idea of "Good News without Bad News".  
  
"the bad news is the fact that the airfields will not be completely abandoned and were going to have to use trucks to get all this ammunition to the Russians in the Tank district. Were going to have to be in disguise." As Yui said this a series of groans and whines arose from the collection of men and women assembled. Yui sighed as she tried to explain how it was the only chance anyone had. "Like it or not, in tow days were leaving these foul smelling warehouses and were goon to do it tomorrow night!"  
  
  
  
The Germen uniforms were tight and binding, forcing a walk that made one look like a cheesy wind up doll. As the female SS Officer entered the private chambers of Himmler, the air seemed to grow cold and stagnant. Himmler's chambers were completely darkened except for a roaring fireplace, which gave the room an eerie atmosphere. Himmler was busy reading a germen copy of the writing of Mark Twain. With a swift gesture Himmler threw the book into the flames and watched it slowly be consumed by the red fire, the paces melting to ash and glowing cinders.  
  
"Americans and their "books". Once our forces have seized Stalingrad and the oilfields along the Caspian Sea have been seized the furher will be able to concentrate on the Americas. What is you feeling towards the furher?" Himmler looked over at the female SS officer who was bust trying to undo her choking uniforms collar.  
  
"Personally, sir, I feel his intentions need re-tuning and his skills are laughable." Himmler laughed as the seemed to agree with the female officers words of annoyment towards Adolph Hitters leadership skills.  
  
"Men like Rommel, Gobelz and myself run this country. The SS keeps it in check. All Hitler seems to do is give speeches to crowds of germen citizens at gunpoint and pursue his maddening race to slaughter the Jews. That is why I agreed to begin operations like Project Lazarus and Project Zero. How are the results by the way?"  
  
"We are ahead of schedule in every area sir."  
  
"And what of the "search team" we sent into Stalingrad. Have they found their target yet?" The female SS Officer lowered her head in anger and shame.  
  
"No sir. They are currently holding their own in the airfield sectors but will reach the abandoned districts as of tomorrow night"  
  
"Fine. Expect a large salary increase in the mean time and report back to Castle Bromine. I will hope for a fully functional LAZARUS prototype by the time I receive the desired items from the Stalingrad teams. Is that understandable?" The female SS bowed her head and walked out the door. As she left Himmler threw a series of documents in the fireplace, all of the marked TOP SECRET.  
  
Decayed flesh, broken bones, rotting muscles and served limbs. These were all things the LAZARUS Project was designed to fix. Deep within the bowls of castle Bromine, one of the only abandoned castles in all of Russia, the Nazi and SS troops had managed to transform it into a mad science ward where the most unlucky were sent to receive "treatment" in the service of Dr. Carmine, a mad scientist by every definition and stereotype available. The 14th century castle was set atop a massive underground chamber, which resulted in the creation of prison wards, holding cells and torture chambers. The complexes of laboratories were all linked by once place: the God-Hall as it was nicknamed; In this gruesome apparition of a hospital patients worst nightmare the insane research of LAZARUS went on. It was mid morning when Carmine was busy trying to see in the arm of a deceased prisoner would work with the body of an injured prisoner whose arm had been removed in an accident during his preparation for the process. Howling scream echoed from all the halls as a black car pulled out front of Bromine, its occupant dressed in a high-ranking SS uniform. As the head SS Officer entered the massive castle he was greeted by some of the doctors "earlier" experiments. These were the bodies of fallen Nazi soldiers who were revived via an early form of the LAZARUS procedure. However, the earlier process resulted in a very dense headed, walking retard of a man with the IQ of about 80. The Officer held his stomach as the two "guards" staggered up and saluted, their dead arms in a standard salute posture. The SS Officer responded and walked further into the castle where be meet some REAL soldiers.  
  
"I am looking fir Dr, Carmine. Where would be?"  
  
"Where he always is: in surgery." The gauds replied.  
  
"Has he completed the working prototype yet? Himmer wishes for a stout report on his Russian projects as of tomorrow. Ian hoping to respond with good news."  
  
"Wait and see. He will be finished by the end of the day." The SS Officer sighed in disappointment.  
  
"Tell Carmine to report in with the Blue Cross generals when he is done. Himmler will have to wait a day on his reports I suppose." The younger soldier saluted as the SS Officer, who turned to get back in his car and escape the sideshow of a laboratory he was given the honor of having to report in on. As the officer drove off a man in a long black trench coat emerged from the shadows and walked up to the young soldier, his face becoming pale with fear at his very presence.  
  
"I am here to speak with Carmine. I have an appointment." the figure said.  
  
Rei's mind was a toss with visions of the past, how she and the others had come to be in this horrid war in the first place. The Longinus Lance, Kawru, Aetius, Damien, Michael the Arc Angel and the insane Dr. Aki: all were in part responsible yet it was the choice of Shinji that sent he and the other EVA pilots into his disaster. How they were in a war, the war to end all wars, hunting down the single most dangerous person ever to walk the earth in the days of man. Only once that person was found and destroyed, could anyone wish to return home again…in there was even a home left to go back to. Rei awoke from her bed in a cold sweat, her hair matted and damp, and her skin cold and moist form her nightmares and vision. The other members of the 34th were all asleep…except for Shinji. He would often awake at night with nightmares and go look out the one source of light from the outside: a shattered window on the roof, which allowed a solid moonbeam to shoot into the warehouse. Shinji could see the moon thought he shattered glass and stared up at it, as if waiting for a cosmic answer to his questions. Rei once again found herself standing by Shinji's side, wondering what was going on inside his head.  
  
"Rei, did I make the right choice?" Shinji finally said, allowing himself a sigh of release. Rei paused for a moment and quietly answered: "Yes. If not for you, the enemy would have been free to accomplish his goal and the future would have been lost. You could have chosen the easy way out but rather, as a result of your personal goals and accomplishments, you choose to be a man and pursue your problems, instead of running away."  
  
"Then why do I feel like I have condemned us all to death Rei?"  
  
"Maybe because, even though you can survive, run, left and kill like a man, you are still only a small boy in the midst of a war for adults." Shinji smiled as he took in Rei's honesty.  
  
"I knew what would be waiting for us all when Michael gave me my choice. I jus never knew it would wind up like this…mess."  
  
"I can only comfort you so much Shinji. If you are going to keep punching yourself, tell me, so I can go back to sleep."  
  
"Sorry. Tomorrow we will get out of this stinking warehouse and go do some good while were here. Tomorrow is also the day we will face off against the real enemy in this war."  
  
"You speak of the Blue Cross Faction?"  
  
"Yeah. They're after something and I know its here in Stalingrad, somewhere. Once we find out, we may be able to track where the BC reports too and follow them straight to their masters: and out target." Rei and Shinji stood their, eyes fixed on the moo, for a good twenty minutes before they went back to sleep. Neither one of them dreamt at all.  
  
The ruins of Stalingrad were massive in the area around the old airfields. Once huge bank buildings and factories littered the countryside. Now only graveyards remained. As the sun shone in on the broken buildings, a small band of Nazi soldiers moved across the field, their insignias bearing a blue cross with a red pyramid background. They knew what they were looking for and they would kill ANY who would prevent them from getting it. 


	2. Chapter 1:A Race through the Jungle

CHAPTER 1: A Race through the Jungle  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Tyr is NOT a SI. He is his own character upon which my screen name was based. Just letting you know…  
  
Morning was the worst part of Asuka's day. One received the feeling your body had been pulled too tightly, you were groggy and to top things off, you had to wake up in a cold, desolate wasteland in the most hideous place on the face of the earth. The factory that had operated at the 34th's base of operations had been mostly packed up, save for a few random boxes that were not necessary to the current mission: hauling serious ass through enemy territory. After changing inside what was ONCE a storage closet Asuka picked up her Springfield '03 Sniper-class rifle and slung it over her shoulder. After securing her OSS S-Pistol, Asuka looked around one last time. Most of the 34th had already packed up and it was now only a matter of time before they would be deep inside enemy territory and fighting like never before. Slinking around ruins and trenches was nice and all but in the middle of a cross fire, heavy weaponry came in quite handy. Yui had finished moving the main mass of the 34th into a series of convoy trucks, the standard Opel Blitz, the 3-Ton models, which had arrived in Stalingrad ahead of their schedule: allowing the occupants to be interrogated, stripped and then executed. Now dressed as the on-schedule work team carrying weapon supplies, Yui and the 34th would have to cross into "The Jungle", an area in front of the Airfields where German snipers made sport of those foolish enough to enter…including their own men. Armed with everything from STG44 Sturmgewehr's to an ever popular MG42 mounted machine gun, these were no longer prideful zealots of the war-cause: they were killers who had lost sight of their targets in the chaos war brought and thus, decided to deliver death to all in their line of sight. The renegade nazi faction had been nicknamed "The Wolves" due to their pack-style rank system. Once, these men were the greatest marksmen in the entire Whermacthe. Now, driven quite mad by shell shock, starvation and apparently sadism, these were no longer apart of any germen unit: they were alone, and they were vicious. Shinji and Asuka got in the back of the second to rear- most truck and set up their riffles through specially designed gun-stands that were centered on a swivel, allowing the gunner to use the sniper riffle standing up. One by one the convoy trucks warmed up as the soldiers double checked their uniforms and false names, just in case some damn stupid krout wanted to be a brown-noser to some piss-ant officer and double check the shipments even though in the state of affairs the city was in, such things were quite unnecessary. As far as the Nazi's knew, they were an invincible force that was on the verge of a massive victory. The whereabouts of a few ammo trucks didn't seem as important to those in the hig-commnad as say, the condition of the tank district and the ruins of the airfield. However, should the krouts have had any brains between them they would have known better than to be chasing a false signal from un-known spy contact. However the reason for it, the convoy revved itself up and moved out, leavening the broken warehouses and ruined streets to the corpses and the ravens. Shinji looked out of his small gun-window and noticed the sun was slightly showing through the clouds of ash and smog.  
  
Carmine sat over his many piles of notes and logs, marking some with highlighters and tearing out whole pages of others. The mastermind behind the LAZARUS project was a monstrously evil man wrapped within an equally evil package. Carmines frame was like that of a walking corpse, with wiry arms and a vulture-like neck upon which sat a grim face that seemed to have been ripped from a dieing mans nightmares on a surgery table. The empty chamber where the scientist sat was a vivid recollection of Marry Shelly's work if ever anyone had tried to recreate the insane Frankenstein's lab, accidentally or by coincidence. Hundreds upon thousands of cadaver charts, mummified limbs, and organs stored in chemicals covered the cold stonewalls. The castle Bromine, in its entire gothic atmosphere, was nothing compared to the twisted realm of the mad scientists mind. Carmine was not what one would expect from your average "run-of-the-mill" madman. Born in Zurich, Carmine began his career, not as a brilliant genius, but was a complete madman right from the start. However, as this wrenched excuse for a human being began his insane works as to discover "our secret potential;" be was drafted into a secret army of scientists who were given the assignment of creating the "Prefect Aryan Specimen". However, Carmine believed the ultimate being would not be blonde haired and blue eyed, but rather, a monstrous beast of immense power that would walk the earth for ages upon end. Thus, Carmine was given his own laboratory and enough money to run a small nation, no to mention a miniature army along with plenty of human captives to experiment on. But alas, the past did bring back the most hideous memories for Carmine and he went back to focusing on his paperwork. As he brooded and tore, a tall figure walked in and looked over his shoulder, like a bird of prey sizing up an opponent as "edible" or "refuse". Carmines wandering eye suddenly caught a glimpse of the overseers face and he must have leapt back three feet, his arms tensing up wildly as he gave a slight sneer. The figure cloaked in feldgrau military dress straightened himself up and offered a slight salute, his small golden leaves which ornamented his red dabges shining in the sawnl.lght. Carmine looked puzzled for a second and then realized whom it was he was looking upon, giving a quick salute in reply.  
  
"Ah, heir Manstein! I was not expecting you to be here, today, of all times! Why have you been brought here so early pray tell?" Manstein let out an exasperated sigh as he loosely shuffled over a few of Carmines notes, taking a small amount of time to scan them before answering.  
  
"I have come here, heir doctor, to see weather or not the prototypes are ready yet! Himmler and Goering are quite displeased with your current lack of progress." Manstein slammed the few papers he held in his brown-gloved hand upon the table, its thud sending a jolt along Carmines spine.  
  
"I have just completed a working prototype for the Luftwaffe and an almost done with an experimental sniper for Rommel. Everything is going very well, you must have some faith in my skills."  
  
"Why in the hell dose that man need a sniper?"  
  
"His intentions are his own, however I think it has to do with a situation inside of Stalingrad. Snipers are key players in that hell-spawned maze of trenches and corpse piles."  
  
"Still. Very odd for a vehiculaly advanced man such as he to desire a sniper. But anyway, what of the furhers desired results. Have you completed one yet?" As Manstein finished those words, Carmine let out a long and grim smile, motioning for the back suited man to come hither. As Carmine exited the room, Manstein couldn't help noticing a few schematics for a machine. Upon the papers ran the word: Evangelion.  
  
  
  
Tension. Rei hated tension almost as much as Asuka hated mornings. Rei clenched her riffle and tried her best to train her eyes along the scattered ruins. Yui sat in the back with Rei while Donovan, an aged demolitions expert, steered the convoy ahead through what was once the prosperous center for weapons making, now The Jungle. As Rei continued to scan the surroundings, Yui motioned for Donovan to slow the truck down a tad until the other four vehicles could catch up. It was in that one second of slowdown that a massive explosion ripped through the landscape like a bright flaming burst of star fire. Rei turned her head to see four men, all in heavy winter gear carrying about a dozen Stielhandgreate's on their belts and jackets. One of the men, adorned with a lovely visage that contained no more than twelve teeth, was preparing to throw a second grenade, seeing as how the first had only shook the truck up, not blowing its axle out. As the gruesomely shaped man reared back his had to throw the grenade, a quick bullet from Asuka, safe inside her vehicle which had cleared the corner, removed his whole hand in a bright fountain of blood. Then the mans grenade, still in midair, hit the ground only three feet away. Not enough time to run. The explosion sent a chain reaction off over the weighted down men's vast grenade surplus, resulting in a massive explosion of blood, shrapnel and bone. Yui placed her head outside the van long enough to yell out the team's new orders: "EVERYONE, HAUL ASS NOW! THEY KNOW WHERE HERE!" Yui pulled her head back in and Donovan pressed his foot on the gas as hard as he could. As the other convoy vehicles pulled up behind, sounds of bullet fire could be heard. Then, from behind rubble and inside abandoned shops, came more of the Wolves, their bodies adorned with every variety of weapon and sidearm imaginable…mostly form their victims. Shinji managed to shoot three standing soldiers as the truck raced by but he knew it wasn't the standing soldiers that posed the most serious threat: it was the ones with heavier weapons, the ones he knew were waiting for them somewhere. The four trucks, now racing along an enclosed road, new they we going to stumble into a trap, since they were on Wolf turf and were at the mercy of their tenacity. That was when it happened. The second truck, the one where Asuka and Shinji were, managed to hit a small wooden- box mine and as the violent explosion tore up through the trucks side, it flipped it over like a paper box. Asuka slammed her head against her mounted riffle. Shinji pulled himself up and saw Asuka's massive wound, now gushing with blood that was covering her face. Shinji ripped his riffle from its mount and went to check on the driver, blown apart and shredded by shrapnel. Knowing there was no driver Shinji leapt out the now overturned trucks back. The other trucks had stopped in response to the mines derailment of Shinji's transport. A big mistake. Asuka, dizzy and in great pain, emerged from the back of the truck, her hands armed with dual colt .45's, her mind set on causing as much pain as possible before she went out. Two men with machine guns could be seen atop a small building ten feet away, their guns fixed on Shinji. Asuka spun around and as she did, some of her blood hit Shinji across the face. In a brief three seconds Asuka's barrage of gunfire tore the two machine-gunners to bloody ribbons. Shinji then pulled up his riffle and prepared to pick off an approaching soldier. Shinji aimed his sights and pulled the trigger. Nothing. Jammed again due to the cold weather, Shinji threw the riffle down and grabbed a handgun Asuka threw at him. But before Shinji could open fore a bullet soared through the enemy's head throught he ears and liquefied his cranium. Shinji looked to his left and saw Rei, her face an emotionless stone of determination.  
  
"Hurry up and get in the truck!" Yui yelled. Shinji and Rei saw that Yui had backed up and was holding the rear gate panel open. Waving to the other divers, Shinji aided Asuka in her run with him into the waiting truck. The other trucks moved around the emptied and upturned vehicle and joined Yui and Donovan in the frantic race to the airfields once more. The three trucks upturned mud, snow and gravel at massive speeds, their drivers trying their best to maintain balance on the icy roads. Suddenly, the last truck in the convoy was hit on its side by a huge explosion: a bazooka. The force of the blast blew the trucks side over and on the icy road, hurled it into a 360 roll-over, resulting in the trucks mashing into what was once candy shop, now only an empty room with,now, shatterd windows. Donovan turned at the next street, knowing the shortcut could pull them along if they weren't blown up, mined, or had a blow out in the process. Then, over the distance, Yui saw something that made her blood run cold. Stutka fighter planes, their screams piercing the skies and filling the ground with dread. The Stutka's unleashed a huge volley of machine pumped bullets into the surroundings, turning one Wolf member into a piece of bloody swiss cheese. That's when it hit Yui: These weren't the wolves. They were the actual army, apparently sent to clean out anything that lives in this "Jungle!" It was a nazi clean up crew! Asuka, her head still spouting blood, pulled open a crate in the truck. Inside were two one-time use bazookas, their purpose to be a disposable missile launcher in times of emergency…like now! Yui and Rei held the back flaps open as Shinji went up first to try and shoot down a Stutka from a moving van. Shinji opened the missile sights and aimed up towards right as the twin fighters were preparing to unleash their second volley of bullet fire, now cruising around to be in-line with the trucks. Shinji fired. Nothing! Yet another jammed weapon, a victim of Russians cold. Asuka grunted with anger as she took her turn, aiming the missile as close as she could to the second stutka. She fired. The missile curved up into the sky and exploded along side one of the fighters…but the impact was not enough to destroy the fighter, merely blow out one of its engines. Both stutka's dove back up into the skies and circled back to the airfield, where they would warn their allies and prepare for an attack. Force 34 had been sighted and was about to see the ultimate force in that district of Stalingrad: and the Pz. KPFW. WSVI AUSF B 'King Tiger" TANK, or as the Russians had nicknamed it, Devil Cat. Deep down Shinji knew they probably wouldn't make it out of the airfield alive…but they wouldn't find out till they got their first. The Opel Blitz convoy was still driving along as well as three damaged tanks could when out of no where, a spread of bullets completely decimated the truck that held most of the heavy arms, setting it off like a powder keg! The explosion upturned the two trucks, who were right in front and behind it when it blew, and sent one poor Russian soldier flying to a crushing death beneath the flaming truck. Now they were all alone inside the jungle, with little ammo and their airfields were in sight! Silence followed, the king one fells right before something bad was about to happen. But nothing did, simply more of that damn silence. Shinji went up to the front of the upturned trucks driver seat, not level with the ground, and looked out the front window. Their, set up like the grim reaper himself, was that damn MG42, nestled cleverly inside the remains of a toll booth…one with metal walls. Through the small opening the gun barrel of the MG scanned the surroundings, hoping for something to annihilate. Shinji pulled himself into the back of the truck and wished he still had his EVA, which was now un-powered and inside of the 34th's main base at London. Shinji smiled at thinking how his old 01 could simply reach down and squish that machine gunner like an over-rip zit with nothing more than an exertion oh his finger. Asuka had now begun to reel in and out of consciousness, her face now smeared with blood and her wound looking ever more painful. Rei took up Asuka's Springfield and threw it to Shinji. "Take her gun Shinji since yours is jammed and mine isn't the right kind for you. Shoot well." Shinji gave a disheartened smile as he took a small eggshell grenade, pulled the pin and threw it into a nearby rock pile. As the grenade went off, sending a spray of stones and explosives into the air, the MG42 opened fire into the explosions sight so fast it made Shinji's head spin. Suddenly Shinji had an idea. Putting the sniper riffle down Shinji went back into the back of the truck. "What are you doing Shinji!" said Yui, her tone sounding more concerned for the time Asuka had that on Shinji's action to put down his gun. That's when Shinji picked up the jammed bazooka and began to fiddle with its mechanics, eventually finding a frozen pin and removing it completely. Shinji pulled himself and the bazooka back into the front of the truck, aimed, and fired. With powerful recoil that threw Shinji into the corner of the driver's chair, and receiving a painful bruise, the missile hit its mark, tearing the MG42 and its metal encased tool booth wide open. The guard who had been gunning looked around a bit and than collapsed…dead. Shinji and the other from both trucks then ran out, staying low to the ground as they went. Occasionally a few bullets whizzed by a persons head but in war it was something that didn't overly bother one too much, not when you were more worried about the bullet what WOULD hit you, not the one that DIDN'T. Asuka, still dizzy from her head wound collapsed on the street, her mind now slightly disoriented and her eyes cross with pain. Rei pulled Asuka onto her shoulder and pulled her along as the race continued. Finally, after almost twenty straight minutes of running, they reached the gated barrier to the Airfield district. Now nicely grouped together, they decided now the best time to plan a course of attack. "Here's how things will look in their with out the 44th panzer division. We estimate almost twenty soldiers, three SD. KFZ. 251 Halftracks, one to two PZ. KPFW. IV Medium tanks and of course, the Tiger itself." Said Yui, her face expressing great concern over the current direction the mission had now taken from an easy ammo transportation to Russian forces, and now a desperate flight to reach the 34th members in the ruins of the Tank district. Shinji was the first to ask questions:  
  
"Is there any chance the RT will be non-operational? Maybe the driver isn't immediately accessible to it and in the short time he would need to get inside, one of us could take him down."  
  
"No I am afraid not. Given the limited resources here I am pretty sure the tanks will be warmed up and ready to go. Plus keep in mid those two Stutkas have already returned and most likely warned everyone about us. As a mater of fact they're probably about to sent a small brigade after us right now. If we can get inside, and live, we can easily steal a vehicle or two and then meet up with Sgt. Hass and his division of the 34th. The only question is how do we get past the Tiger and those halftracks?" Rei then spoke up, her voices alight with a small flame of hope. "What if somebody were to get inside the Tiger and disable the driver. We all have enough tank training to survive having to drive one of them at least in enough time to destroy the airfield and the halftracks."  
  
"It could work but how do you propose getting past that .88MM cannon, or its variety of machine guns?"  
  
"Simple. We will come at it from all sides and overtake it by numbers. The Tiger is incredibly slow and can not think about hitting all of us moving targets with a gun designed for tank to tank warfare." Yui thought about Rei's idea and nodded. As they did they looked through the metal link fence and saw the Tiger positioned amid a large number of grounded Stutkas and a few Stutka class bombers. "Rei that hatch is probably going to be sealed so use a grenade to blow the hatch open. Asuka, you are going to go with me and were going to try and wipe a halftrack or something to get you out of here if this fails. Shinji, you're going to have be the be Rei's decoy and get that 88mm gun away from her. Do you think you can do that?"  
  
"Yeah. But one last question: how do we get close enough to dodge the 88mm gun. If we go charging in from here we'll all be blown apart like little glass figures and from the looks of the patrols, were going to have a hard time sneaking around in their. I say we go in from the side at nightfall and then take out the soldiers while there asleep, giving us something of a surprise on the enemy." Yui was about to agree when she looked down at Asuka, her face pale and blood soaked. "No. We do this now." She said. As Shinji looked over the pitiful excuse for an airfield the places position seemed wrong.  
  
"Yui, why is an airfield here. Last I heard their were only two. One in Pitmirk I believe?"  
  
"Very good geography Shinji. However the krauts seem to be trying an airfield set up here, right smack dab in the middle of this hell hole, hence the reason there are only three planes at the moment. I think were going to have to adjust our parameters slightly: we must completely obliterate this whole are if possible. And it gets worse. Look at the Tiger itself." Shinji and the other diverted their eyes to look at the parked vehicle. "I believe its an experimental model, made for the fortifications of a city-scape, since it seems to be made for plowing building with its heavy treads and frontal armor. It's a heavy model battering ram with a gun you might say. Yet another think we'll need to eradicate." The mission seemed to be going from bad to worse.  
  
  
  
It was the most gruesome thing Manstein had ever been given the unfortunate honor of looking upon in all his days. The creature inside the clear glass tube and suspended in what seemed o be a clear orange gel looked like somebody had turned a man inside out while he was till alive than tied spare organs on him and given him the plague. The monstrosities eyes were yellow and black, a hideous pattern in them. Its face as twisted and contorted like a man in a funhouse mirror, only this was far from amusing. Manstein held down his lunch and gently put his hand on the glass. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the creature then shoved its face against the glass, trying to get a better look at this curious oddity staring in it. Manstein, who had believed the creature dormant, fell o the floor, his face angered and red as a beet. Carmine couldn't help but laugh, that is until Manstein shot him a glare that could melt steel. "Dr. Carmine why is this THING here. What dose it have to do with the LAZARUS project in anyway!" Carmine chuckled as he ran his fingers along the smooth glass tube where the gruesome apparition was, its eyes shifting about like a hawk. "The reason it is here, general Manstein, is because this is the secondary prototype for the LAZARUS project. This creature, which I have given the name Abel, is the sum result of many other deceased men and women, to create a lethal solder that can be easily replicated if given the order."  
  
"But just LOOK at it! How can such a thing be fitted into any section of the army and not be the souls cause of vomiting among the soldiers."  
  
"Because, like I said, it is a secondary prototype. Here is the final result." Carmine motioned Manstein over to another glass tube, yet instead of its occupant being a misshapen monster, the figure inside was a beautifully well sharpen man, in his thirties. His face was like that of a roman god, his hair as blonde as gold and his eyes like massive sapphires in color. "I give you, heir Mansietin, the perfect Aryan soldier. He is Cain and is the core of all LAZRUSES research. What I did was take that Abel prototype and drastically regenerate his cellular structure into the combination you see before you. Given the right body parts we can essentially create a mass-produced army of men, women and children in the perfect image of the Aryan race."  
  
"What is his mind like? Is he as intelligent as those door-men you have out front?"  
  
"Far from it. The brain tissue is mostly form a fallen Officer yet his ability to speak has been removed, hence, he will never complain, scream or cry out….or reveal secrets. His mind is what you wish to make it, he is a child pf the military and listens only to rank. He will carry out his orders to the death, no matter what." Manstein looked in at the suspended soldier and smiled widely. "I must say Dr I wasn't expecting such good results from you in such a short amount of time yet I apologize for my lack of faith. How much longer until you can have a thousand of these men ready to be sent into the Russian front lines?" As Manstein spoke carmines expression grew to anger.  
  
"NO! These aren't meant for the Russian front you fool! That is why the Abel was created, to be the ultimate soldier, not a figurehead like Cain! If you are to use anyone, use a legion of Abel's for they are the true soldier. Cain is a showcase of what could be accomplished, a failed end result. The Aryan race is a laughable dream. Just because one-person looks different form another dose not cover up the lack of quality in ones own genetic make up. Abel is something new however, a creature designed to kill and do it well. He is the true Aryan, not Cain." Manstein suddenly shoved Carmine against a wall; his black glove clenched over Carmines throat and squeezing fast. "Now you listen here you sick cripple! I want the furher to see me as the hero of Stalingrad and the prefect way will be leading a thousand Aryan soldiers into glorious battle in his name, not a thousand freakish sideshow attractions! You will have those soldiers reproduced or I will have your body turned inside out and suspended under glass, you understand?" Carmine managed to gulp out a yes as he was lowered to the ground. Manstein looked down on the old man and laughed a bit before exiting the room, his ominous presence finally gone. Carmine pulled himself up and smiled, which then grew into a chuckle, which finally erupted into all out laughter. Carmine then looked over his shoulder to see a figure standing in the shadows, his body covered by a long black military coat. "I didn't think a man at Manstein's level could be so vein." The figure spoke.  
  
"Well when you are trained that glory is power and vice versa you tend to do anything to get ahead. But Manstein will get his army all right. It just wont be the one he expected!"  
  
"What are you going to do Carmine?" the figure asked, his voice now suspicious  
  
"It is not yet time for Cain to be unveiled. Abel however needs to be field- tested…and I do believe Stalingrad is the perfect place! Tell Aki her team needs to be out of the city in a week!" The figure saluted and then returned to the darkness of the lower halls within Bromine.  
  
It was as Shinji was getting ready to cut the airfield fence open that he saw about thirteen trucks pull into the airfield, their sided bearing the insignia of the Blue Cross legion. Shinji looked on in disbelief as, from one of the trucks, a young man emerged, his face as pale as ice and his hair as red a fire. Tyr 


	3. Chapter 2: The Reason I stayed with you....

Chapter 2: The Reason I Stayed with You…  
  
Tyr stood amid the other soldiers, his lengthy coat flickering in the cold air and his mind a focused blade. He knew what he was going to have to do and the sooner he got it over with, the better. About twelve feet away from him was the experimental tank, the proto-tiger, a new weapon modified by germen soldiers to crush, grind and eradicate the barriers of Stalingrad and clear a path of carnage in its wake. Tyr was going to destroy it, and then the airfield itself. Such things were massively inefficient and only proved the incompetence of the wermacht for even bothering with such a thing in the beginning. Airfields didn't belong in the midst of war, even if only to supply three planes. Tyr had been around a long time and seen much. One could say he was inexperienced in ways of emotions, love for example, social contact for another but war was the one thing Tyr knew well. Tyr would sweep this base like a whirlwind and then re-join his troops who were waiting amid the vast graveyard that was Stalingrad. Suddenly, from the edge of Tyr's eyes he saw the one thing that was going to seriously ruin his day: Their at the other end of the airfield and charging fast, was Shinji Ikari, his hands armed with a pair of grenades!  
  
Shinji barreled forward, his mind set on distracting all attention from Rei and to do so meant a VERY large distraction in the way only a loud explosion could provide. As the BC guards caught sight of Shinji he knew that was his cue to throw the grandees and keep running. With one massive swing Shinji threw two grenades at the congregation of soldiers. Tyr saw the attack coming before Shinji was even ready to throw ,and as such, was already a safe distance. The explosion threw the soldiers around like china figurines in a hurricane wind as Shinji opened fire and kept running, apparently trying to make it to the "hanger" which was nothing very extravagant in terms of protection. Tyr smiled a bit at the way Shinji had evolved in mentality and then sighed a sigh of exasperation, as he knew the damn fool had just given him the opportunity he had been expecting. With a quick whip of the wrist Tyr unveiled a set of machine guns and quickly spent up their ammunition on what few soldiers had survived the grenade blitz. That was when it happened. The P-Tiger opened fire with its 37mm machine guns. The spray of precise bullets scattered along the ground towards their target as Tyr realized HE was the one they were aiming for. Racing behind a truck and looking around, Tyr went to see if anybody else was with Shinji. That was when Rei did her part and leapt onto the massive tank's backside, placing her grenades on top of the metal hatch, blowing it open in a massive eruption of smoke and shrapnel. As the hatch blew off Rei threw another grenade, a smoke type, down the exposed ladder chute and fired off a few shots, hoping to disable any drivers or machine gunners. Then there was that damn silence again. Everyone stood still and silent for a minute as the sheer accuracy of the assault was absorbed. One germen tried to make a break for his stutka but Rei's bullet found him first. The other two pilots surrendered with out so much as a qualm while the few un- injured BC soldiers, only three in number, were suddenly outmatched by a very large number and decided to co-operate with their captures. Tyr walked up to Rei, his eyes alight with a type of unsaid pride as Rei saluted in a small fashion, it then becoming clear Tyr had become a commander in his absence form the 34th. Shinji approached the group, now gathered around the silent and dead tank Yui walked up towards the small reunion, her face a bit more wiser and her hair having grown out considerably since they had last been in such a group: standing before the arc angel Michael. However that little meeting seemed so long ago they looked on it as a mere page in a larger tome.  
  
"So Tyr, how is life outside the 34th?" asked Asuka, her voice tired yet still curious at the condition of her former EVA pilot comrade. Tyr allowed himself a casual smile as he answered. "Not so good to be perfectly honest. My boys have been a bit untrusting given my age by I have been doing my best to guide them in this hell hole. German armor seems to be slowly advancing within the cities perimeter and the patrols are very annoying to try and fight when you have to worry about a damn panzer laying down cover fire. Then theirs the Blue Cross soldiers, a type of advanced SS soldier used by our good acquaintance Dr. Aki."  
  
"Speaking of the devil where has that little witch been hiding lately? We thought she would be here in Stalingrad since all of these soldiers are here but we cant seem to find her." Yui commented  
  
"You wont get her here. Aki and Damien are more than aware of out existence in this time and as such she has become a recluse in whatever base she operates out of. My guess is it's a privately run laboratory but that's seemingly become a popular thing to use in these days of super weapons, experiments and the ever present race to breed a "super soldier. Aki seems to be looking for something inside the ruins of this place according to the obvious supply of BC men moving in every day but so far I don't think even the soldiers know WHAT they're searching for, just that they have to find IT or die trying." Tyr sat on the ground as Yui and Shinji conversed about a current plan of strategy. Suddenly from over in the corner of Shinji's eye he saw Asuka, her head bandaged and her face cleaned off from the blood. Yui and Rei went over to see how she was doing but Shinji turned his head slightly to focus on Tyr, admiring how his old comrade had aged given the circumstances of war. Tyr saw Shinji's lack of emotion toward Asuka and found it most curious. Were these two not united by love anymore, these two children who had spent every waking moment at each others side not even two years earlier? Shinji's conversation broke Tyr's thoughts. "Hey Tyr. What's it like inside the city, in the heart of hell?"  
  
"I don't think you need to worry about that right now Ikarii. You have a wounded soldier who I believe is your lover. Shouldn't you not go and see her?"  
  
"Asuka will be fine, she always is. She doesn't need somebody like me hovering over her. We've gotten along so far and I wont make her anymore oppressed in this conflict by throwing MY feelings into the mix.  
  
"You really are a idiot Ikari, you really are. Now if you don't get over their I am gonna personally skin you alive." The calmness in Tyr's threat sent a shudder down shinjis neck and he turned to go see Asuka who was more than happy to be next to him again. Tyr watched on as Yui came up to him carrying some maps and rations. "Yui, what happened to those two?"  
  
"Operation BARBAROSA. We arrived right in the Ukraine when the germens were invading and marching towards Kiev. Asuka was hit by a bullet as Shinji tried to embrace her, which distracted her from the two germen soldiers in the clearing. Asuka was unconscious for two weeks solid and ever since they haven't really tried to become close at all. Shinji feels that way because he loves her and doesn't want to mix love and war."  
  
"Idiot" Tyr said.  
  
  
  
The Russian night was unbearably cold as the three SS soldiers scoured the wreckage of the bombed out buildings, their search having been increased in momentum under pain of death. One SS. A man named Herman was busy pulling the titles of fallen ceilings off a desk when he found a large stach of files being embraced by a corpse. Herman pulled off the rotting hand and looked over the documents, which read: PROPERTY OF STALIN. Herman smiled as he ran over to his commanding officer with the news.  
  
"And you are certain the files are those of Einstein?"  
  
"Without a doubt sir. What now?"  
  
"Simple. We hand the files over to Aki and Carmine. We leave the rest of the mission to out good friend over there." Herman looked over to see a tall figure standing in the moonlight, his face covered by a hood and cowl. The SS officer nodded to the figure who looked up and then, in a heartbeat, vanished into the night.  
  
"Sir who was than person?" Herman asked. The SS officer pulled out his weapon and removed any more questions from Herman's skull…along with his brain matter.  
  
  
  
Morning at the airfield was much like every other morning to Asuka: Hell. Asuka covered herself with her blanket as she raced to the makeshift bathroom the 34th had to operate out of for the time being. Asuka's footsteps and noises awakened Shinji and he too decided to get up, leavening the others to sleep however. Suddenly Shinji saw Asuka emerge from the bathroom and he realized they were alone together while the others were sound asleep. Asuka saw this too and her heart seemed to sink because she knew no amount of feeling would change Shinji's mind about his methods with her love and the battles around them. Asuka then felt her old rage return to her, her fist tightening into a steel ball, her eyes narrowed. Asuka flung off her blanket coverings, now revealing she was not overly dressed, and she approached Shinji. With one massive swing she decked Shinji straight in the jaw. Shinji hit the ground with his head and felt his nerves go haywire. Asuka looked down on his and smiled sweetly, her voice filled with compassion.  
  
"Here you mega-dork. I have just repaid you for the bullet in Kiev now get up and hung me you idiot!" Shinji was shocked, and in pain but he stood up.  
  
"Asuka you know I cant do that. If anything were to happen to you like in Kiev I will die. I wont have my love jeopardizing your safety." Asuka balled up her fist and struck him again, this time in the stomach. Shinji recoiled with his own fist against her side. Then their was more of that damn silence as both pondered the moment they had just shared. Bruised and upset, they both hugged one another, their hot tears intermixing with one another as they kissed. Asuka was so happy she didn't notice the fact that her lovers eye had been blacked by her fist, nor did Shinji notice his severely bruised stomach. They were booth ecstatic to be in each other's arms again. As the sun crawled over the broken and rubble filled horizon, Shinji and Asuka sat down, holding one another in their arms. Suddenly a loud bang emitted throughout the dawn. Shinji looked over and saw Asuka bleeding from the chest. Shinji's world shattered into madness. Looking around Shinji saw before him a creature spawned from the lowest pits of hell, his face a mutilated mass, and in his hands, a smoking gun. The creature formed a ghastly smile as Shinji looked over to see his other friends had been gassed by a sleeping-gas bomb, designed to knock them out. Shinji and Asuka were on the other end of the airfield, hence why they didn't notice in time. Shinji kneeled besides Asuka and tried his best to stop the bleeding with his shirt but it wasn't working. The figure fired another shot, this one hitting Shinji in his left hand but luckily not striking bone. Shinji screamed in pain as he pulled out his gun and raised it to the eyes level of this demon. The figures voice seemed like something not alive, yet very real, a type of afterlife monotone. "Shinji Ikari, you will die here with your bitch." Shinji's mind was now a torrent of madness. Shinji charged the figure with all his strength. The creature shot off his gun but Shinji dodged the bullet. Again the creature fired and yet again the bullet didn't hit. Shinji threw a punch so hard it shattered the creatures jaw, sending it flying into the air with a spray of red blood. The creature looked up and reached for its gun but saw Shinji had it in his bleeding hand along with his own. The creature smiled as it unveiled its cloak, a uniform beneath it. "You kill me and my brothers will swarm over your group like a virus. I am only the first you know. You should be thanking me for killing the girl you know. I spared her the torture that awaits you and your friends!" Shinji's eyes widen as he pulled the triggers, the creatures body exploding in a bullet barrage. Asuka suddenly stood next to Shinji, her hand clenching her gut where the blood seemed to be coming from. Shinji dropped both his guns and picked asuka up in his arms, carrying her over to the makeshift airfield hospital room.  
  
"Its…ok Shinji. The bullet didn't hit any organs and it…went straight through. Argg." She said.  
  
"You can still bleed to death you fool!" Shinji said, his face streaming with hot tears that were tears of joy minutes earlier. Yui staggered up and began to cough out the gas in her lungs, as did the others when they awoke to see the body of the creature and then Shinji carrying a bandaged up Asuka to her bed. Tyr staggered up and motioned for Asuka to be put into one of the Blue Cross vans. Everyone loaded up into the vehicle and without a thoughts hesitation they began their decent into the places occupied by Tyr's men, where hopefully, a hospital-trained person could see Asuka. Asuka seemed to be fully conscious of the pain yet she refused to pass out. Although the threat of death had long passed there was still her condition to worry about. Shinji looked down and saw her hand encleched in his won and it seemed to ease the suffering a bit.  
  
  
  
Aki and Carmine looked down into the pit are where one of Carmines newest creations was being displayed to a small panel of Nazi Officers. The smell in the room was absolutely fowl bit it was offset by the room itself. A darkage torture room, the pit was once used for lowering prisoners to wild beasts. From behind one of the pits blackened cages emerged a freighting beast that's seemed to be a dog without any fur. Its muscles were exposed and its fangs were elongated. It had no ears yet it seemed to hear everything the officers were mumbling as they looked upon its gruesome form.  
  
"Gentlemen, this is SETH, an experimental creation to be used as the ultimate hunting machine. Capable of smelling out objects a hindered times better than a bloodhound and reaching cheetah-like speeds, this si the future of the canine in the European theater. One of the officers, a man named Hoth, made the first question.  
  
"Dr. Carmine, I understand you shipped out a few soldiers to Manstein's divisions inside Stalingrad. What are these creations and why are we not looking at THEM instead of this dog." Carmine got a look of anger and then quickly repressed it with his answer.  
  
"Because the creations used for the army are currently still experimental while the SETH here is a finished product. We will have news on the Abel's status in a few days so until then I can say nothing and show nothing." Hoth seemed to accept the answer as he stepped away from the pit, bored at seeing this mutated dog devour a raw steak in a few bites.  
  
  
  
The ruins of Stalingrad were even bigger than Shinji or anybody else had anticipated. Massive Russian armor, what was left of it, was fortifying a large ammunition center where Tyr's group worked. The truck holding Shinji and the wounded Asuka, arrived at about ten in the morning, only an hour after the shooting. Asuka's condition stabilized as the separate 34th division doctors tended to her, wondering why a young girl was wearing military dress. Once more Shinji found himself standing beside Asuka on a hospital bed, wondering why he wasn't the one who had been shot. Yui entered the tent silently and put her hands on her sons shoulders.  
  
"Mother, why dose she always get hurt because of me? First it was the battle with the demon, the Kiev, now this. Is my love jeopardizing her safety?"  
  
"No Shinji. If anything, the forces of darkness are trying to separate the both of you. You love prevailed at the Lance and because of your devotion to one another the world was saved."  
  
"But in the process were now here and she had come close to death twice now. Why wont she get away from me. I must be cursed mother." Suddenly Asuka's hand reached up and made a faint slapping motion against his face.  
  
"Shinji you idiot" she said weakly. "I love yu and would never part from your side even if it meant dieing a thousand times." Those words hit Shinji hard and he had to leave the room.  
  
"He's running away again" Asuka said as she slipped back into sleep. Yui looked down at the sleeping Asuka and brushed some hair from her eyes.  
  
"No Asuka. He's not running away. He simply cant accept such love…not yet."  
  
Tyr saw Shinji sitting next to a portable heater cleaning out his .45. Tyr waited a moment before approaching Ikari, knowing the mood he must be in. "Shinji." Tyr said slowly, trying not to startle him too much while he was holding a gun.  
  
"Oh, hey Tyr."  
  
"Listen, the two 34th divisions are going to join up tomorrow for an assault on some garrisons. You in?"  
  
"Maybe. Right now…I don't have the stomach for killing."  
  
"You seemed to do just fine against whatever the hell that thing was at the airfield?"  
  
"That was different."  
  
"Well it's going to be the same. The same thing you killed is apparently what garrisoned some of our men inside a penned-in building. If we don't get there by tomorrow those men are dead. Now are you in or not?" Their was a pause as Shinji got up and holstered his gun.  
  
"I am in if it mean destroying any more of those abominations." Tyr smiled tos ee the fighting spirit alive within Shinji gain.  
  
"There are some who say these things are genetic experiments of Aki. If that's true we may find out what she wants in Stalingrad."  
  
"You mean besides a testing ground for those things?"  
  
"Keep in mind here that she is searching for something. A spy seems to report they on the look-out for documents of Einstein, something to do with time travel."  
  
"AKI! With the capacity for time travel? If that happens the world could de annihilated because you and I know exactly where she is going to go."  
  
"Right back to New York, where this all starred. Except this time, Michael and the other angels wont be their to help us."  
  
"Why are we waiting!? Lets get going now!"  
  
"What about Asuka. Are you running away from her again?"  
  
"For the moment being away from her is the best thing she can possibly do Besides, if it means Aki is stopped in any way She would understand my leaving for a bit." Tyr nodded as they went to go be updated on the mission ahead  
  
  
  
Aki read over the report stated in the telegraph and couldn't help but smile. Her gaze then shifted up to the massive ceiling where a megalithic lance was suspended upright over a series of mechanical apparatus which were sending currents of electricity through its undefined metal structure, with visible currents of blue light streaking over its curves and bends. "Soon the secrets of this lance will be unveiled and when they are, the world will shudder at you footsteps master!" Aki's voice echoed throughout the room as a cold presence surged in from all sides and enveloped her mind, filling it with thoughts and visions of the world to come: a world of chaos and ecay. A world Aki would die to bring about. From the corner a young man in SS garb enterd, his long black hair tied back, his eyes aglow with blue light in the darkness around his face.  
  
"So I take it everything is ready?"  
  
"Indeed. Tell carmine he may now begin the hunt for his prize" Those words seemed to bring a look of disgust on Damien's face.  
  
"You said she would be mine."  
  
"And she shall be…once Carmine is through with her and gotten his damned data."  
  
"I think the man is insane to be screwing around with DNA like hers. Why aren't I good enough?"  
  
"Different stock my son. Different stock." Aki replied as Damien left in anger. 


	4. Chapter 3: Confessions in the Dark

Chapter 3: Confessions in the Dark  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: This isn't so much a new chapter as it is an extension of chapter 2. The content however makes it necessary to split this from the second chapter. Trust me, if I threw all this at you at one, your brains would have turned to mashed potatoes. Enjoy…  
  
  
  
Rei and Tyr were walking amid the rumble of the city with Shinji close behind as they approached the small group of Russian soldiers who were assessing the situation at hand. Shinji's Russian wasn't so good but Tyr translated anyway. As the apparent leader of the small group finished his briefing, Tyr translated. "He says the Germans are testing a new weapon in the ruins and see going to use the penned-in soldiers as the test dummies. They think it is a type of new model machine gun, something like a scaled down version of the standard grade kraut MG but with some bizarre features. However they haven't been able to get close enough to know for sure what's going on." Rei slung her Masuer over her shoulder, her face wearing a small "Rei Smile", which meant very small upward muscle movement in the form of a grin. "When do we move out?" Rei said. Tyr spoke in Russian for a moment and seemed to startle the Russian soldiers. "We move now." Tyr said, walking past the stunned soldiers as these mere children were going to take on a secret germen weapon ALONE! Beyond the rubble barrier into the tank district was a smoking ruin of a large building with a massive contingent of soldiers at its base, apparently the only entrance in or out. Rei unslung her riffle and looked through its scope at the men below in her field of sight, trying to discern the officers. "Around five officers…numerous grunts…an engineer even. Whatever is going on down their its attracted some attention. Even an SS officer." The mention of a SS man in the ranks alerted Tyr like a light flare in the night.  
  
"Did you say SS? Look again to be sure Rei." Tyr said, his eyes wide with what could be either joy or fear.  
  
"I have confirmed it. She is SS."  
  
"Than that proves Aki is doing experiments here. Most of her SS troop is female anyway, a dead giveaway." Tyr leaned on his riffle and pondered the situation. Shinji looked down into the assembly and noticed several metal cages with something moving inside of them. "Hey Tyr, what's in the cages? Shepard's?"  
  
"No. The Sheppard's are usually leashed."  
  
"More of Aki's experiments?" Rei asked calmly, her eyes still scopeing various targets.  
  
"Possibly. We need to find out more on this weapon they're unloading though." Then, from the distance, came several armored trucks, each one holding a massive crate, which was unloaded and opened right as the trucks came to a halt. One box seemed to contain an enormous gun-barrel while the others held parts for a tank tread system. Tyr was now enraged as he saw the weapon unfolding before him.  
  
  
  
"It's what I feared. I know what they're building. About a month ago my squad was pinned down by more bullet fire than possible from one weapon alone, that is, until we saw it was coming from THAT! It took almost twenty men to kill that thing Shinji. It's a massive moving gattling gun designed for the soul purpose of slaughtering infantry like a hot katana through wax. We need to destroy that thing NOW!"  
  
"But how did you destroy it last time?" asked Rei.  
  
"Its turret, where the gattling arm is, is basically a ball-pivot joint. One well placed explosion will cause the whole thing to collapse and explode."  
  
"But Tyr, this one doesn't seem to have an arm at all. It's on a turntable system." Tyr looked down and saw the basics of a rotating platform joined with the base: no joint to destroy. Tyr clenched his fist and he threw down his gun, startling Rei and Shinji.  
  
"Damn it! If that thing is assembled than were going to loose this sector since all the Russian armor is bogged down in the front!"  
  
"I propose we destroy all the engineers with our riffles before it is finished. There are only five of them and we can easily handle five." Rei said. Tyr nodded and picked up his riffle with Rei and Shinji following suite. Training their scopes at the appropriate engineers who were busy assembling the death-machine, the three snipers opened fire. The bullets hit their marks and two more shots followed, also assassinating their desired targets. As chaos ensured on the ground, three soldiers went and opened up the cages. Leaping from them were the most horrifying creatures any of the children had yet to see. They looked like dogs yet they seemed to be dead and decomposed. Tyr swung his scope at one of the beasts and delivered a pinpoint bullet to the dog's eye. The eye exploded in a burst of blood yet the creature didn't even slow down on its charge. Shinji saw the effect of the bullet and decided to use something stronger: A grenade. Removing the pin, Shinji hit the dog dead on, the explosion throwing the "thing" a good couple of feet. As the debris and smoke cleared however the creature was till running, despite a massive hole in its side and the fact that its muscle over its sides had been burned off. The dog bounded up the rubble slope and found the terrain slipping from beneath its claws, yet it was still gaining ground. "What do we do? We can't leave yet but if we stay were dog chow!" said Shinji. Tyr sneered and pulled out another grandee, this time throwing it straight beneath the dog's chest. That explosion blew it to pieces. "Even a zombie dog needs working muscles to run." Rei then focused her attention to the other dog, now only a few feet away and a large squad of krauts on the move to their position. Shinji put his Mauser over his shoulder and pulled out his small machine gun, despite its low ammo. As the dog cleared the corner Shinji ripped it apart with his gunfire. Rei and Tyr picked off the officers while Shinji threw his last two grandees at the encroaching troops and then switched over to his last few rounds of machine gun ammo. Noticing how the soldiers had scattered Tyrs aw a clear path to the still dissembled gattling weapon.  
  
  
  
Mustering all his courage, Tyr barreled down the rubble slope and, once again, Rei and Shinji followed. Tyr pulled his last two grenades and with a strong swing threw them onto the dissembled machine, watching it go up in a fireball. But now he and Rei and Shinji were in the open and surrounded, with their only means of escape being the entrance into the penned in building. Shinji didn't know it was the sound of German armor or the massive amounts of bullets that persuaded Tyr to escape into the entrance but whatever the reason, they were walking into a maze of collapsed floors, basements and ruined rooms, with a large wermacht division following them. Tyr guided his two partners through the darkness and hoped to make contact with the survivors. Rei felt uneasy as Shinji moved closer to her, trying to sense where she was. It was then Shinji felt his breath catch in his throat as Rei grabbed his hand. Her skin felt like living glass as she pulled him along Tyrs path in the dark. Suddenly the floor collapsed beneath them and Tyr looked behind him to find he was alone. Not having time to stick around Tyr went onward, hoping to see Shinji and Rew on the other side  
  
  
  
Shinji awoke in the darkness to see Rei standing over him, her red eyes almost aglow in the darkness that seemed to have swallowed them.  
  
"Where are we Rei?" asked Shinji.  
  
"Apparently deep within the cellar level of this structure. We will have to find another way out."  
  
"Like what." Shinji asked as he got on his feet.  
  
"We will have to get access to the upper levels and re-join with Tyr. Unfortunately we have no light source." Shinji checked himself for a flashlight and realized he had left his behind, thinking it would not be necessary.  
  
"Tell me Shinji, now that we are alone. What is it about Asuka that you love?"  
  
"Asuka? I suppose it would be…the way she is her own person, the way she never lets others boss her around."  
  
"As opposed to…myself?" Shinji suddenly realized at what he had just said and regretted every word. Rei stood very still, alone in the shadows until Shinji made a motion to try and put his arm on her shoulder.  
  
"Rei, you know how I feel about you and Asuka. Without the both of you, I would be lost in this hell. You know that."  
  
"Shinji…I renounced my humanity for you."  
  
  
  
Manstein sat at the massive table in Bromines conference/war room. At the other end sat the infamous Dr. Aki, Carmine and their personal "assistant" Damien. Needless to say Manstein found these three a laughable pair but the quickest way to assuming true power in this pathetic mess of a war. Manstein threw some paperwork towards the three persons who analyzed it at great length. "These are my terms for the continued services I will provide you here at bromine if you agree to the conditions I have set set forth." Aki was enraged as she tore the paperwork apart and threw the scraps at Manstein's direction.  
  
"Have you lost your nazi mind? We can never accept these terms! All our research must be directed through to Hitler himself before confirmation of new projects? An audit? Budget decreases? What kind of terms are these?" Manstein sighed in exasperation as he got up out of his chair and began to pace around the room.  
  
"Aki, do you know how many officials in the government want you shut down. You aren't exactly running a secret operations base here. This is no Peenemude, its Frankenstein's Laboratory! You gave public showings to various officers and you expect the money to be shipped your way! There is a war going on, not a testing facility in the west to serve your purposes! And to make matters worse you sent me those freakish abominations against my direct wishes and now there few I have under my secret command in Stalingrad are being killed off. How long do you think it will take before the furher traces this back to me and has me removed…or worse."  
  
"Personally I think the Abel's did quite well considering they aren't a finished product. I can still make as many modifications to them as I see fit, just so long as our cash flow is not cut off." Said Carmine, his tone now bordering on the sarcastic. Masntein was as calm as he usually was but a hint of sheer rage was in his voice as he finished up the conversation. " You will receive all the money you need for now. However, in the future, do not dare to disappoint me again because it is by my good graces you are even operating. I hope project ZERO is going according to plan as well." Manstein then exited the conference room for his car.  
  
  
  
Shinji didn't quite know what Rei was saying, nor did he fully comprehend what she was doing. "Shinji…that day at the Longinus Lance, the day of the ascension…the moment that Damien corrupted the powers of the ASIER…I had to make a choice. I had renounced my angelic powers for the life of a human, as the sereget get daughter to Yui. But, when I saw you and Tyr and Damien go up into the sky, to become the Beasts new form, I chose to assume the mantle of angel in order to save you. Shinji Ikari I love you and theirs nothing else to say than that. I know Asuka loves you but I don't really care about her feelings towards you, not anymore. Seeing you two rips me apart and I cant stand it anymore…I am not mortal Shinji, I will live forever since my DNA is that of an immortal being. I had lived for almost 14 years before I saw you and felt an empty void in my soul. That's when you arrived. I hated your feelings towards your father but…I loved you even then." Shinji knew it must have been unbearable for Rei to say so much, given her quiet nature. She must have spoken all the feelings in her soul to him. Rei was now crying and Shinji knew it.  
  
"Rei…I am sorry. My heart and soul is Asuka's…not yours."  
  
"I know. It's just…I am sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you like that." In the darkness Shinji found Rei and embraced her, their hearts beating as one for a brief time, neither one letting the other go. It was then, in that moment of unsion that they kissed one another in the quiet nothingness that seemd to be their only reality. As Shinji slowly pulled away from their kiss he felt the side of Rei's face, warm with her own hot tears.  
  
"Rei, I will always love you but not like I do with Asuka. Our love is a special one that I share with nobody else. Never forget that." Even though it was as dark as pitch, Shinji knew Rei was smiling. 'I will not forget Shinji. If ever the time is right though, could you ever love me like you do Asuka?"  
  
"Of course." Said Shinji. Suddenly a massive light from above hit them. Tyr. Standing above them with a huge floodlight was Tyr and about six other men, all in Russian uniforms. "Hey you two, get the hell up here fast! We've got a plan." A Russian said in very broken English. A rope ladder was lowered and the two soldiers climbed up, both ready to receive orders. The Russians and Tyr conversed while Shinji and Rei shared an awkward silence, broken by Tyr who finally decided to update them on the situation.  
  
"According to the survivors here, these creatures, the ones like the thing you killed at the airfield, are in face a type of undead soldier being shipped in from the north. Same with those dog things. It would seem Aki is trying to create a zombie army while her SS division loot the city. Apparently they found whatever the hell it was they were looking for because all the SS are moving out and leavening the war back to the wermacht and the luftwaffe. Since there is only one way in or out of this place were going to do the following. If we can somehow get those soldiers into this building, the Russians here have triggered it to explode. The only problem is not being around then that happens. Any ideas?" Silence went around the room until Rei spoke up, "We could set off detonations at the farthest end of the building and lure the germens in with sounds of gunfire from inside, making them think maybe some of their men got inside. When the soldiers rush in to see whats going on, we escape behind them and blow the fuses." There were no words of argument. After about twenty minutes the explosives were placed and detonated. Then, a few seconds latter, the Russians began firing off their guns in loud bursts. That's was it. The germen units, excited by the sounds of battle, charged inwards, never noticing the real enemy was sneaking around them in the shadows. As Shinji and the others saw the break of daylight a massive explosion threw them to the ground and a cloud of ash, smoke and dust enveloped them. "GET MOVEING! THAT WAS A LOUD EXPLOSION AND THE REENFRCEMENTS WILL BE HERE ANY SECOND!" Tyr shouted through the some haze and they all began to scale the massive rubble slope wall that lead to the armored protection the Russian- occupied zone. Shinji gripped the ruble with his hands but every handful seemed to crumble at his touch, causing him to slip further and further downward. Suddenly, through the gray haze, a hand reached out and pulled him up. Rei's hand. With all her strength Rei hauled Shinji up and they both raced for the safety lone of the Russian artillery, both of them breathing heavily as they went. But as they looked back they didn't see Tyr anywhere. They didn't notice how he had fallen behind and was now have to face with several German soldiers, all aiming their weapons at him. He had become a prisoner. 


	5. Chapter 4: Moon Hunter

Chapter 4: Moon Hunter  
  
Shinji sat on the empty ammo crate that served as his chair, his shoulder now a rest for Asuka's weary head. The meeting of the main 34^th leaders was truly a depressing to look upon. Normally, meetings were assembled to celebrate the victory of a large offensive or defensive victory...but never a rescue operation. The members of Tyr's band were all in a silent vigil for their lost leader as Yui paced around the makeshift space heater, pondering all courses of availability to try and locate where the germens would take a high level priority prisoner like Tyr. The 34^th were pretty well known by now and to capture one of their trainers was a massive thing to accomplish, which brought up another issue: did Tyr allow himself to be captured. It had already been a week since the incident actually occurred but the chance of a rescue wasn't quite out of a feasible range, not yet anyway. Asuka felt the warmth of Shinji's body as she hugged closer to him, he welcoming her presence in  
this time of trouble.  
  
"It is quite possible he could have been taken to a germen command facility here inside the city. Maybe he would be interrogated by the in-town commanders." Rei commented. Yui's response wasn't quite in favor with that theory.  
  
"Not likely. With so many of Aki's troops in the city it would be most reasonable to think he would be taken straight to her for the more personal type of torture. You know how much Aki hates Tyr ever since he betrayed her with the ASIER incidents." Rei lowered her head and went back to contemplation as a Russian soldier came up and whispered something to Yui, her face growing distressed as the message was revealed. The Russian man moved back and looked away, trying to avoid Yui's expression and then turned to go back with his unit.  
  
"It would seem there is a large amount of activity in some of the factories. Tyr's unit would like one of you three to go with them and investigate." Yui looked back at the Russians who were busy loading up on ammo and supplies. Rei looked over at Shinji and Asuka, their arms wrapped around each other tightly, absorbing the others heat and love at the same time.  
  
"I will go." Said Rei, her eyes alive with passion as if she was trying to show off to somebody who wasn't there. Yui nodded. Shinji smiled at Rei while Asuka followed up with a "thumbs-up". The Russians continued to pack up as Rei went to load up her MAUSER and various other weaponry she would need.  
  
"Hey Shinji." Asuka said, her voice faint and distant in the quiet night. Shinji looked down and gazed for a moment into her crystal eyes.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Why did you run away before...when I told you I would always be beside you?" Shinji blushed a bit and found himself unable to pace around because of the beautiful woman on top of him.  
  
"I suppose I didn't want you to mention anything about death, considering where we are and all. It.just seemed to ominous."  
  
"But Shinji we ARE in a war and we very well COULD die any minute now. I don't see how much different this is than when we were fighting the demons or the angels only a few years ago."  
  
"I guess its because now were fighting men. I knew what I could and couldn't handle in my EVA, same as you. But now, here, in this mess...were alone without any aid and I dint know what's coming around the corner. We don't have any AT-FIELDS to save us here."  
  
"I will be here." Asuka said reassuringly as Shinji stroked her forehead, lulling her eyes to close. Shinji gently lowered her head onto the crate and went to go find her a blanket. Moving around inside the storage lockers of the Russian camp Shinji stumbled into Rei, busy packing some rations into a small pack. Suddenly realizing they were alone again Shinji panicked a bit and then calmed his nerves, realizing they weren't really ALONE. Why did Shinji suddenly feel so...guilty? Rei looked up and smiled as Shinji fuddled his way through the various blankets, eventually finding one thick enough for Asuka.  
  
"She is very lucky." Rei said.  
  
"I suppose so. She seems to love me almost as much as I want her to be safe from this hell. Wishful thinking I suppose."  
  
"Considering how much you seem to love her you certainly do sell yourself short when it comes to your own feelings." Undoubtedly those words created a reddish tint on Shinji's face as he went to go cloak Asuka from the cold. Shinji knew what Rei meant however and he couldn't help feeling if she was right. Considering all that had been going on, had he really begun to love Asuka less? He remember the night in New York, right before the ASIER ascension when they merely held one another all night. That incident seemed so long ago now it made the few "romantic" moments they shared now look like a night of wild passion when all they did...was sleep. Yui put a small pillow under Asuka's head while Shinji went to inspect the supply of weapons and ammo the combined 34^th divisions had. Nobody noticed Rei leave.  
  
The Russian night was just as bad as the Russian day. Explosions, shouts, gunfire and scrams echoed everywhere as Rei and the small party walked deep into germen held territory. Rei looked up at the sky, cloudless for once. As Rei looked, she caught sight of the brilliant moon, its size and grandeur amid this horrible conflict dwarfing all her emotions. How could men kill one another on a night like this?  
  
The building was a dump, as most were in the broken city by now, and it provided little cover from snipers, grenadiers or armor assaults. In reality they were in a house of cards with aluminum siding and a leaking roof. Why in the great blue world the superiors in their command chose THIS place to unload their shipments the 12^th Einzagruppen division of the BLUE CROSS didn't know. All they knew was that three trucks, filled with various sorts of lab equipment, was to be unloaded in an hour or there would be hell to pay. One germen began unloading a heavy console when the weight nearly toppled him backwards, risking the damaging of the unit itself. Luckily the soldier regained his balance. Unfortunately, a man in the third truck saw this. The figure stepped down, his long black coat swaying in the cold air. The soldier immediately stiffened up as the tall figure, his long black hair swinging from its tied back tail, looked him over.  
  
"Who are you?" the figure asked. The soldier tried to straighten himself up eve further as he answered.  
  
"Sgt. Justinian, sir." The figure stroked his chin and looked over the man once more for good measure.  
  
"Do you know what all this is for, Justinian?" the man said in a tone leaning more towards sarcasm than anger, although one would never say such a thing to the man in person.  
  
"Sir, I was not instructed as to the nature of these devices."  
  
"Do you know why?" the man asked, his voice now playfully ironic.  
  
"No...sir." With one strong motion the coated figure reached back and grabbed the soldier by the back of his coat and threw him to the ground.  
  
"BECAUSE YOU ARE A CLUMSY IDIOT! If anything is even slightly dinged, scratched or damaged, you will all be sent to Bromine and then I wills see to it you become Dr. carmines newest test subjects. GOT IT!" The soldier's answered by moving faster, the poor thrown soldier staggering to his feet. But before the man could even get back to work the tall man had already un-holstered his gun. As the soldier heard the draw back of the gun barrel he gave a symbolic nazi salute and was shot dead. The other solders looked on in horror for a moment and then snapped back to work, afraid for their lives. The black-coated figure re-holstered his gun and allowed himself a small smile.  
  
"He wont be messing up anymore," the man muttered. After the third and first trucks were unloaded another man, also in black approached the building with an armed escort. The escorted figure saluted the man in the black coat with the gun who followed suite.  
  
"Ah, Commander Damien. Any news from Carmine or Aki as to what were doing here?" The escorted Damien waved away his guards as he went to converse with the renowned "Black Wind Kernner", the toughest and deadliest leader the Einzagruppen had ever seen. Aside from being a tough slave, master, Kernner was also a renowned sniper, demolitionist and profound collector of ancient weapons, to more specific, ceremonial Japanese katanas, which he even kept at his side under his coat.  
  
"Aki and carmine want what's in these trucks assembled in an hour, right before the second cargo truck arrives. Their will be team of engineers on the next truck who will do the rest of the work but make sure they don't have to spend their good time fixing any of your boys messes. I want this operation to go as smoothly a possible."  
  
"And what would that be, sir?" Damien couldn't help the irony.  
  
"Do you know why you weren't told about the full specifics of this operation, Kernner?"  
  
"No, sir?"  
  
"Because you are a clumsy idiot who would screw everything up because you would be trying to comprehend things you wouldn't be able to understand. That's why I have an engineering team on the next truck, to keep you from doing anything stupid! Just be sure everything is set up right. Understand?" Kernner gritted his teeth at being talked down to but he saluted nonetheless and turned to go and supervise his men. He may be a pawn in somebody else's game but sooner or latter the player would have to use him for something important...not just unloading trucks into warehouses in the middle of a cold Russian night.  
  
Looking up at the moon was something Rei had often done when she was alone in Tokyo 3...before Asuka, Shinji, and al the worries of ASIER. She often wondered if she could ever look at the planet earth from afar and see if it looked even half a gorgeous as the moon did. But now the time for moon gazing had passed. The team was now in the warehouse section of the chemical factory section, place where various industrial solution and solvents were once pumped out. But now, mostly due to bombing and shortly Russian construction, the whole are as a massive swamp of chemical baths, acid puddles and mineral deposits. Both sides mostly condemned the buildings, perfect for operating if you didn't want to be noticed. Rei covered her nose with her hand as she fought off the overpowering chemical scent of mixing fumes. Creeping ever closer to one of the biggest buildings, avoiding large pools of green-tinted gasoline puddles in the process, the Russian team looked through the flimsy  
metal walls while Rei surveyed the area. Everyone was wondering where the on patrol guards were. Suddenly their thoughts were broken as a large truck rolled past the chain link fence on the northern side of the building and seemed to be pulling in at a reverse angle: something was being unloaded...and it was big.  
  
Tyr managed to open his bloodied eyes and squinted as intense white light poured into his retinas, dilating then at the drop of a dime. Tyr was absolutely swimming in pain as he felt a gloved hand pick up his head by the jaw and prop his face up, right into that damned light again. As the fuzz cleared away Tyr saw he was in a basic interrogation room used by mist low-level germen bases. Wherever he was, he sure as hell wasn't where Aki was. If he had been with Aki he would have woken up missing certain valuable muscles and appendages. A shrill and high toned germen officer, with a ridiculously bad looking glass eye, stepped foreword clenching a leather baton, his hands flexing it heavily as Tyr sized up this pathetic excuse for an officer. As the germen spoke in a hideously thick accented and very broken English tone, Tyr almost bellowed out in laughter.  
  
"So! You are ze infamous Tyr yah? You dunt look zo tough to meh!" Tyr smiled a bit and felt a tear go down his face.  
  
"Well, sir, what would be a tough person to your "esteemed" level of observation?" The germen officer gritted his teeth as he slammed his baton on the desk at his side, spilling a cup of coffee in the process.  
  
"I would personally like to speak with whom ever is your superior, BOY." Those words ignited Tyr's anger as he immediately straighter himself up and prayed that his chains come loose for a few seconds, a few sweet seconds so he could personally punch some speaking lessons into the jack ass.  
  
"I am the commander the 34^th division of free soldiers in Stalingrad. Who the hell are you?" Tyr said, his tone cocky yet still holding enough anger t warrant a bit of respect, even from the enemy.  
  
"Yu? Yu look more like ze small child from a hitter youth division. I du not believe yu are ze one I am to take to Bromine."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"SHUT UP! You will know where you are going when you get there, so until zen, kep qviet!" Tyr smiled as he realized his plan had worked like a charm. Not only were Shinji and Rei safe with his troops, but also he was now going to be believed straight to Aki...a bit damaged but delivered nonetheless...if he could survive this idiot's accent however.  
  
Kernner looked onward as the small team of engineers exited the truck, which had just arrived straight from bromine, began to unload several large containers and metal drums from the cargo bed. As he watched, the Russian team outside watched as well. Very slowly everyone saw they were assembling a small chemistry laboratory slash surgery ward. It seemed Aki and Carmine were unloading a new test creature...something that needed high maintenance. As the final steps were taken to set up the empty warehouse as a laboratory, a final crate was unloaded from the truck, except this one was handled much more carefully than all the others. Re tried to see what was being unloaded but there were to many engineers in the way. Suddenly Rei nearly jumped back in shock as a person was pulled out from the coffin-like crate and lowered into a tank filled with a variety of gel-like solutions. Then, the engineers began to turn on all the various consoles, now linked up to one another. As the  
chain of light blinked and buzzed on, a faint electric charge could be felt in the air. Two of the engineers then lowered several wires into the vat of chemicals that help the...body. Then, with a flip of the switch, a massive electrical current through the liquid solution and the body inside the chemical cocktail began to move and sway, apparently alive and well within his bath of toxins and concoctions. With the help of some of the soldiers the person was helped out of the tank. The man looked like a normal person expert for his face's left profile, which was hideously scarred, as if it had been put to work with a blowtorch. In place of an eye the person had an eye patch. Suddenly realizing this person was naked, Kernner went and handed the dauntingly intimidating figure a change of clothes from his own wardrobe. Damien smiled as the engineers began to run various tests on the consoles, even checking the PH of the chemical vat.  
  
"Sir, what is all this?" asked Kernner while Damien was looking the "jump started" person over.  
  
"This is a new method of reviving deceased soldiers. Its called The Lazarus Bath and can revive a person who was deceased only 72 hours before. Why take ol' Jens here. Last night he was hot by an enemy grenade blast. Lost half his face and his eyes. Very bad considering his proficiency was marksmanship. But with Carmines "assistance" this chemical bath has revived him and restored his eyesight. You can remove the eye-patch their Jens." The large man looked puzzled as he opened up his eye patch, shocked to see he could see.  
  
"The Lazarus Bath also re-tunes the chemical signals in ones brain so how Jens were is going to find a certain person for us."  
  
"Who sir?" asked Kernner.  
  
"A special young woman who is operating somewhere around this very complex. She is highly valuable to Dr. Carmines research and thus, is to be apprehended in the most...humane...way possible?"  
  
"Humane?"  
  
"Indeed. Jens here may look big and stupid but not only has the Lazarus Bath enhanced his DNA structure, he is now capable of performing like an Abel...he cant die like a normal soldier. JENS!" The figure turned and saluted, his body at full attention.  
  
"Corporal Jens reporting for active duty sir." The figure said solemnly.  
  
"You are to find and apprehend Rei Aiyanami. Here is her photo." Damien outstretched his hand and an assistant engineer put a file in hit, which Damien then opened and put before Jens, a picture of the blur haired young woman inside of it.  
  
"Jens you will find your senses have been high tend extensively. Your target is operating somewhere around here now go and get her. REMEMBER: she is to be taken alive. Injuries are not to be fatal and if she is killed I will personally see you reduced to primo real soup in Carmines laboratory, understand!" Jens saluted as Damien handed his a heavily modified MAUSER-97K. "Good hunting."  
  
Rei suddenly realized the full extent of what was going on. The Russians immediately began to guide her back along the path they had come through when Rei noticed the sky had become eclipsed by thick smoke and cloud cover. Their light was now seriously dimmed and right outside was a zombiefied soldier with her face on his one-track mind. As Rei jumped across a vast chemical depression puddle one of the Russian soldiers approached form behind. That when the bullet blew through his cranium and sent his body reeling onto the blackened ground. Rei looked around had there, at the far end of the clearing stood the tall figure, his arms holding a smoking sniper riffle. Unslinging her own riffle Rei raced to follow her comrades in their flight. Jens smiled as he raised his riffle with one arm, aimed and with a quick pull of the trigger, blew another Russian kneecap out in a burst of bone blood and tendons. Screaming in pain the man collapsed behind Rei. Knowing cover was limited Rei  
immediately knew this revived sniper was playing with her, delaying the inevitable. Rei's only hope was to reach a reasonable covering and shoot back...even though the light was almost completely gone. Time seemed to be going in slow motion as Rei scouted a small skeleton of a building. Gritting her teeth Rei began her rush. Jens, who had now moved in significantly, raised his scope and aligned his sights to her left leg, readying himself for the pull of the trigger. Suddenly Jens felt the side of his head rupture. Looking over to his right Jens saw the "capped" Russian staggering up, his weapon smoking hot. Jens then looked and saw Rei had made it to the cover. Angered Jens quickly tuned to snuff the one Russian and then went to focus on his target. The three other Russian members of the tam were now the only thing between this "thing" and Rei, knowing full well the consequences of their failure. Jens looked for a reasonable target but found his opponents were all in the  
cover and he on the other hand was right in the middle if a small clearing. No matter. Normal men needed light and then again, not all of their targets could survive a bullet strike to the head and not get weary. Sensing the bullet wound to his upper cranium, Jens sneered as he pondered how to capture his target if she was not only hidden but also protected. Jens finally decided it would be best to ignore the annoying gnats and go straight for the prize.  
  
Rei looked through her scope and became frustrated when she realized there wasn't enough light to make a decent shot and the enemy was advancing forward. Suddenly, from the skies, the cloud cover parted and out came the full moon, bathing the surroundings in a pale light. Jens didn't have time to raise his weapon when two grades exploded next to him, blowing away his arm which was till clenched to the riffle. As Jens lifted his head up, one bullet, courtesy of Rei's riffle, soared straight through his eye in a searing crimson streak. Hitting the ground in pain, Jens's hand found itself dipped in a puddle of burning chemical soaked sand. Screaming in agony Jens could only watch as the female sniper and her three Russian guards escaped into the night. Jens pulled himself up and then found Damien was observing him. Straightening up into a correct posture Jens awaited his orders to be sent out or worse. Damien smiled and patted Jens on his bloody shoulder, laughing quite hard.  
  
"You really should try harder you know. I can't go replacing all your limbs every time you loose them. Next time, pleas try and be more careful wit them, alright?"  
  
"Next time sir?"  
  
"Do you realize how much you cost dear boy? I can't afford to, pardon the pun, "scrap" you just because you lost once now can I? Learn from your mistakes. That is all." Jens saluted and followed Damien back into the warehouse where he would receive "modifications" to his current sate. 


	6. Chapter 5: A Scream from the depths of m...

Chapter 5: A Scream from the Depths of my Soul  
  
The snow was intense. The combined sections of the once divided 34th were now united in their mission to shut down the Blue Cross faction within the besieged city of Stalingrad, but as they journeyed deeper into the city they found the weather to be excruciatingly horrible. As ice and rain clung to their trucks and weaponry, many had to discard precious riffles, guns and vehicles, all due to the freezing snow. Shinji looked through his scarf covered face and amid the haze saw the fiery red of Asuka's hair offset by the aqua color of Rei in the foreground. Shinji allowed himself a sigh as he trudged up next to Aiyanami, tapping her shoulder to get her attention. "Hey Rei. Three weeks ago, when you went with Tyr's group to the chemical factories. Did you happen to hear where Tyr was taken?"  
"If I had heard we would already be on a rescue mission. Do not be stupid."  
"I didn't mean it like that…I just…sorry."  
"Tyr is a capable warrior who save both our lives. If he is alive he had chosen to either remain a captive or keep himself hidden. I have chosen not to worry about it and you should do the same." As Rei walked foreword Shinji looked on in questionable shock. Not more than a month ago Rei Aiyanami was pouring her heart and soul to him, now she was colder than the ice clinging to his nose. Asuka walked along to his side and smiled at him, trying to pry some emotion from his frozen shut face.  
"If you're trying to read Rei's mind from her face…don't. Take it from somebody who's squinted herself crazy in an attempt to categorize her features with her subconscious. It basically boils down to "Frowns when sad and smiles when happy, if ever.""  
"What happen three weeks ago Asuka?"  
"You mean you don't know!?"  
"I know she and Tyr's men were ambushed by a new creature."  
"Well you get an "A" for effort but a "C" in the whole story. The creature was apparently designed to hunt and kill ONLY her, not any of us. Kind of makes ya feel left out doesn't it."  
"Why in the hell would they target Rei like that?"  
"Beats me. Now that Tyr's gone she's basically in charge of his troops and add-on her personal assassin I suppose you get one pissed off little lady." Shinji looked on as he and Asuka kept up the pace with the others. Shinji then wondered what Misato would think about all that they had been through. Misato. It had been almost two years since that day she interfered with Aki at the Longinus Lance. Shinji could still see her eyes burn with pride as she waved them all goodbye from Zion. An Angelic Warrior. Shinji laughed at how she never thought she'd get a decent promotion and now, now, she was working straight for Number One himself. Misato's last words still echoed in his soul.  
  
-Now Shinji, be brave and don't ever give up. You have somebody to fight for now and she'll need you at you best. I know you'll be very happy together and I hope we can see each other again when this is all over. Goodbye Shinji. Goodbye Asuka. Good luck.-  
  
Shinji felt his heart begin to ache as he wondered if he really would ever get to see her again. At the moment it seemed like a sure-fire NO but if he fought hard enough, someday… Shinji shrugged off the feelings of woe and focused on getting to the battle ahead. Misato would probably kick is ass if she knew he was blubbering over goodbyes rather than fighting to have happier "Hello's". As the march went on the cold didn't seems so bad.   
  
  
Himmler sat inside his office staring outside at the on-going snowstorm. As he watched the whirlwind of white dance behind his windows, a trio of men entered, all of them dressed in very oddly matching uniforms. Then, behind these three came another person, his form cloaked in black and an ancient samurai katana at his side dangled ever so slightly.  
"Ah, Kernner. What is the news of OPERATION ZERO? Have we created prototype yet?" Kernner turned to look out the window and gave a frowning look.  
"No sir. The previous prototypes exploded and the others…ravaged the minds of the pilots. So far we have been unable to find any capable of such monstrous mental stress."  
"You mean to say you have not apprehended them yet?"  
"Correct sir. They are still hiding in Stalingrad with this…34th division of free soldiers. I have two men on the situation now."  
"You mean Jens, the experimental sniper? Who is the second?"  
"Dr. Carmine proceeded ahead with operation TIME-HAND and revived Heyatas. The process succeeded wonderfully and he has been…reprogrammed."  
"How long will be susceptible to the re-programming serums?"  
"Hard to say. He seems to be doing well in the battlefield and is inside of Stalingrad even as we speak. He is tracing the male pilot, Shinji Ikari."  
"What of the shadow for Sorry? Who will handle her?"  
"For her we have a…special person to handle things. He should be online very soon sir."  
Himmler straightened his jacket and he stood up and prepared for a briefing with the furher himself.  
"Keep up the decent work Kernner and you may become useful to others besides myself. I pray you do not fail at this stage in the game." Before Himmler could exit the room Kernner suddenly motioned that he wasn't finished with his briefing. Himmler turned, now very annoyed and waited for what this soon0to-be dead man wanted.  
"We have taken the secondary commander of the 34th division, Tyr, hostage and he has arrived at Bromine." Himmler's mouth nearly dropped open as he slowly approached Kernner, his fists clenched and veins pulsing like mad.  
"You mean to say we have a captured pilot and we are still sending in droves of Hitler youth children for those barbaric tests!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOETHING EARLIER YOU FOOL!"   
"Sir, Dr. Aki wanted me to inform you once she was ready to-"  
"AKI BE DAMNED!!! First that conniving bitch publicly displays top secret creations to a host of under-authority generals and NOW she dares to withhold one of the most valuable pieces of information in the Reich from ME, her own benefactor!!! Kernner, I want you to get your ass back into Bromine and I want those other CHILDREN captured ASAP. Then, once they are in the hands of the Reich, have Aki and her troop executed. Nobody withholds things from me. Especially somebody like Aki who shovel money into a furnace quicker than results." Himmler slammed the door and Kernner smiled in the darkness. The first step in his plan had seemingly gone off without a hitch.  
  
The situation was always bad but now it was rock bottom. After almost three weeks without word from the outside and almost no ammunition, the 34th had come to stop within one of the various districts that had been decimated by assault and bombings. As the stutkas flew overhead Shinji felt like his mind was going to explode with frustration. Rei sat with Yui as they cataloged their ammunition and weaponry. Asuka kept her self-busy by building little nazi snowmen, which she feverishly smashed with her triple socked feet, wishing she had her 02 online for one last massive romp through enemy territory. Shinji's mind was a torrent of memories as it had always been recently. This time his mind came to focus of Helen, one of the ill fated EVA pilots who assisted them in the battle with Aki at the massive battle in New York, the day Aki tried and nearly succeeded in corrupting the powers of the Longinus Lance. Helen was somewhere in all this madness but they were never able to re-unite with her. Wherever she was Shinji hoped she was alive. Rei walked off into the white snowing void and Shini followed her with his eyes, hoping she would be all right alone. Asuka went to go walk with her but a stern look from Yui stopped her cold. She knew Rei wanted to be alone for the moment. Shinji looked back at his clenched fists and began to feel the sense of helplessness overcome him. He knew deep down history could not be averted from its main course that Stalingrad would still fall and be resurrected, resulting in a massive Russian victory. But Shinj didn't care about any of that. Shinji was wondering where Tyr and Helen were, why Rei was being stalked, why they hadn't found Aki yet and weather or not their presence would awaken the angels of this time whom were still sleeping in the earth. Shinji then noticed the white shower of ice had grown more intense, now clouding his vision slightly. Looking over he saw no sign of Rei. Worried Shinji slung his mauser over his shoulder and went into the white void to find her…hoping that zombified freak hadnt done so first.  
  
His prey was near. He could sense his muscles moving amid the crunching snow, his heavy breathing, even the tortured scream in his soul. Heyatas moved through the ice like a shadow as he followed his shadow like the very faithful samurai warrior: he would follow this "Ikari" to the end of his days and bring glory to his house…or die in the process and bring more honor in the process. Hayates knew his moment would come soon and he would not get another…when the white fog swept the land he would close in and annihilate his enemy.  
  
Shinji trudged through the snow, his face stinging with pain as he covered his eyes. "REI! Where are you?" he shouted, his throat horse from the cold and frigged air. That's when he saw, from the distance, a figure inching towards him, apparently wounded. It was Rei. In her hands she clenched a bleeding arms, the red fluid seeming to glow amid the white background. Shinji raced over to Rei's side, watching as she collapsed in front of her. That's when the bombs came. Shinji heard their frantic buzzing sounds as the explosions rocked around him, throwing snow, debris and shards of building everywhere. The wind whipped up massive ice sheets of sleet as the explosions blanketed everything in a thick nothingness. Shinji lost sight of Rei, the camp and was now painfully disoriented from the bombs impact. He was lost amid a bombed out city in a snowstorm with a friend dieing only a few feet away. Shinji gasped in air as he picked himself up from beneath a few shallow feet of upturned ice and wood, trying to gather his surroundings. It was no use. Amid the white snow storm Shinji was helpless and alone, even though he knew camp wasn't far off. CAMP. Shinji franticly realized the bombers target was the camp ad as he realized it he franticly began to search for Rei so she could be taken to medical care…if anyone was around to administer it. Shinji's mind reeled in pain ad he touched his brow and realized he was bleeding profusely from the head, hence the sauce of his pain. Shinji trudged along faster now, hoping to find Rei not buried unconscious in the snow. Suddenly, from somewhere in the endless expanse of white a long blade swept Shinji's face. Screaming in horrific agony Shinji clenched the right side of his face, now pouring blood. Shinji then felt the stinging and burning of a long vertical slash going from his brow to his ear. It had been done in a matter of seconds and by a razor sharp weapon. "WHO IS THEIR!" Shinji shouted, his mind now dizzy with intense pain  
  
Shinji then saw, from the shadows of white, a lone figure. Except this was nor Rei nor anybody friendly to Shinji's cause whatsoever. The figure was about five foot six and decorated in traditional ronin garb. The figures arm, nestled in a right shoulder sling clenched a long ceremonial katana, which was coated in Shinji's blood. The figures face was youthful, yet ageless, his hair pulled back and tied in a traditional ronin topknot. At the figures side was a small vile of saki, which the sword-wielding figure pulled off his belt and threw at Shinji, motioning for him o pick it up. Shinji pulled his gun but in a blink, saw the ronin figure pull out his weapon and strike his hand with the blunt and flattened end of his bade, knowing he could have removed his whole hand had he developed the inclination. "You are one of Aki's men aren't you." Shinj said, speaking in traditional Japanese, not the English tone he had adopted recently. The figure responded in kind.  
"I am one of the house of Tokugawa, now without lord of honorable descent. You are an enemy of my lady Aki and as an enemy of my new house I will fight you here. I have taken up the house of Aki because they are trying to bring reason and justice to this land. You and the house of "free soldiers' are a petty band of hooligans and murderous thieves who prey on these lands like vultures. You, Shinji Ikari, in death, will restore my honor as I have been given such an opportunity. Prepare to face me and do battle." Shinji couldn't believe his ears. Was this nut-bar serious? Did he actually think Aki and her zombie horde were actually HONORABLE? Shinji wanted to try and convert this poor revived and brainwashed soul but knew Rei was till out there, somewhere. Apparently, this figure knew that too. "You seek you friend don't you. An honorable thing for one so low in this lands system of power. The sooner you destroy me, the sooner your friend can be save. I did not injure her enough to kill her." Shinji's mind suddenly broke in two. All the horrible things he had seen, all the gruesome deaths he witnessed, and all the screams of his enemies suddenly swept over him as he gazed into the heartless yes of this "man" who would use his friend as bait to fight him. Shinji Ikari vanished them. What emerged was not he, but rather somebody totally different: the Shinji that had been repressed for two years, the Shinji that had wanted to save everyone at the Lance, not just stood bye and watched on as others died for him. This was not Shinji, but Ikari. Ikari walked up to the figure, whose sword was now drawn. The ronin, Heyatas, saw a great fire in this persons eye that burned his souls with fear. Ikari concluded his walk to the figure and took his sword, Heyates not even struggling due to fear and shock at the courage this boy showed. But it was too late by the time Heyates realized Ikari had seized his weapon, not to discard it, but to use it. With one stroke, Ikari paid Heyates back for the bloody scar he would soon have to live with. Ikari cast down the bloody sword at the bleeding warriors feet, his voice silent as he walked doff into the snow to find Rei. Hayates stood up, now blind in one eye. "Truly." He said. "that boy has a demon stirring within him, a demon I must one day slay…and repay for this dishonor.  
  
Ikari waked along, further into the snow, eventually finding Rei's body lying limp on the ground amid pieces of shattered brick and two by fours. Ikari's mind suddenly swelled in pain as Shini re-emerged, not knowing why or where he was, simply that he had found Rei and he had to get her to safety. Shinji picked Reis body up over his shoulder and began to make a long walk towards camp when he saw Heyates, standing in the background. The two stood for some time, pondering the others situation. After a moment Hayates walked back into the snow and vanished. Shinji bowed slightly, as tradition of one who had just had a duel forfeited to him by a stronger warrior. Shinji then felt Rei awaken, her body recoiling in pain. Her wound, which wasnt even quite deep at all, had begun to freeze shut while she got back upon her feet, with Shinji as her crutch.  
"Shinji…a man..with a sword." Rei finished her late warning and slipped back into a quiet sleep as Shinji resumed picking her back up on his back for the remainder of his journey. As they saw camp amid the snow Shinji's heart lifted from a massive burden as he saw everyone was okay…except for the fact that both he and Rei were bleeding, disoriented and very confused.   
  
  
Heyates felt the groove over the side of his face, the way the blood flowed from it, the stinging of the cut. Ikari had revealed himself and Heyates would now do everything in his power to draw him out again, for one duel to the death. Such was the fate of a resurrected Ronin. 


	7. CHAPTER 6: In the Shadow of Death

CHAPTER 6: In the Shadow of Death  
  
****AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter will be dealing with things that some readers may not wish to read about. As true as the BASE for these events are, the actual things in this chapter are fantasy and nothing more. I am fully aware of how tragic the holocaust is to millions and swear to you readers that this has a prominent point in the story, one that will work out for good in the conclusion. There is also a "scene" with Asuka that people shoul take seriously...its pertinent to the story****  
  
  
Bromine loomed over the horizon like the great shadow of goliath must have loomed over the tiny Israelite army. However, unlike the Goliath that was slain by David, this great demon was still standing and it's presence was horrifying. Constructed by invading armies as an outpost in their eventually futile assaults on Russia decades before the advent of Hitler, this place, now called Bromine, was a veritable lair of death. Constructed atop a massive labyrinth of caves and a network of sub-levels. Bromine was a nest of darkness where its victims lay either dead or dieing. Tyr had seem the horrors of death by gun, missile, grenade, knife, suffocation, fire, and even freezing to death but nothing was so horrible as death by sheer torture. The germen guardsmen threw Tyr onto the snow-covered ground, his head hitting a concealed rock in the process. As Tyr was forced back up to his feet he noticed he had not been taken into Bromine itself, rather, a sub station, a check in gate. Being made to walk along side the truck, Tyr and his captors approached the front of the heavily fortified guard check in station. Two soldiers, armed with a set of new model machine guns, pointed Tyr to the station and he walked foreword and meet the gatekeeper, a man in virtually nothing but tattered rags and no shoes amid the cold air that ripped skin apart. The man seemed to be a walking corpse, yet not the kind Aki revived and trained for fighting: this man was a prisoner like he, yet had been here far longer. The germens shouted at the man who quickly went and opened the front gate, a massive barbed wire-covered monstrosity with two machine guns stationed at its sides...and the gatekeeper. As Tyr walked up to the man, who couldn't have been anything under sixty, he heard him whisper something from behind the gate, hoping his voice was muffled by the moving motor gears. "Don't look them in the face stranger and always answer when spoken." The man looked up at Tyr's face, his eyes seemingly devoid of any spark...he had been beaten in by torture and was now a loyal slave to his vicious masters, a soul who had submitted to his "fate". Tyr smiled, despite the pain his body was in, as he gave his response.   
"Well those are kind words but I always look people in the eyes, right into their souls. If I am going to be here I guess it's a good thing I am used to pain. Don't worry sir. By the time this is all over with, you will be given the chance to inflict some as well." The confidence in Tyr voice seemed to kindle a small glimmer in the mans tattered and blood-dried face as a small smile sinisterly swept his mouth. Tyr nodded as he felt the butt of guns urge him behind the gate where he was meet by, surprise, more soldiers and a very large person in a classic "Deaths Head" uniform. It was obvious he was the lead dog among these butchers. The gatekeeper retreated inside his small shelter where the gate controls were as Tyr's "escort" approached him, binding his hands with metal cuffs and guiding him with bayonets. Tyr had entered the den of hell and was hoping to meet its proprietor. As Tyr was brought into the main corridor to Bromines south gate, he heard the quick burst of gunfire by the front-gate sentries. The old gate keeper was no more and a replacement would soon be sent in. Tyr knew however that the old man had, for one fleeting moment, a sliver of hope and Tyr would make it his duty to see that hope fulfilled....revenge of the suppressed upon their repressors.   
  
  
  
The city was finally dead. Stalingrad, the gem of the Volga river, had finally seen its last fighting day. Almost nothing remained to stop the Germens now, save for a miracle by God himself. As the 34th fought in the ruins, they slowly began to realize the mighty factory-lands were no longer a worthy cause for battle. Now it seemed, Moscow would become the blood-paved grounds of Germen victory in the west. This was not the consensus view however as Yui and her band believed Stalingrad still held one massive battle in its hollowed, bombed out shell. Yui had tried to keep most of her Russian retainers to stay but most, save for a few brave soldiers, saw the motherland as a dieing crone, grasping for a few last moments of life. Yui was deep in argument with three of these pessimists when Rei and Asuka returned from there scouting rounds. Shinji, angered at the sight of so many lost-hope individuals, simply saluted and left. Asuka flicked the men off while Rei shot then a hate filed look. Yui, forced to now take the repercussions of her crew, awaited the response from the Russians. "I see your team dose not agree to a fighting retreat eh madam Yui?", one man asked. Yui scoffed and got up out of her chair.  
"Listen to me, all of you. Russia is not going to die here, not now. The Americans will come in a while and until then WE must do out best to prevent this plague from spreading any further."  
"I believe you seem more interested in battling these creatures that are being imported from a-far, more than the actual nazi's themselves. Your energy has not actually helped OUR cause whatsoever."  
"It is because we are here that Aki has her true forces withdrawn to fight us, instead of unleashing then on YOU. If we are unable to stop them than you will surely fall to her alchemy of flesh!" The Russians got out of their chairs, saluted and left slowly, a sign they would endorse one last mission...but no more. Yui collapsed in her seat and pondered how best to use the last of their energy. Since no one knew WHERE Aki was based out of a final charge was out of the question. Destroying the creatures base camps were futile efforts since they always seemed to e popping up when one was annihilated. Suddenly Rei, sensing Yui's troubled thought, brought in her own suggestion: "Why don't we try and take the castle Bromine?"  
"Bromine?"  
"yes. It was once an aristocratic Russian summer home but I have heard it is a site of a massive concentration camp and research center. Almost half of the germen "creatures" are most likely coming from their if anywhere at all."  
"Why didn't you provide this information before Rei?"  
"Because...I believed that place to be where Tyr was taken and if so did not want to interfere with his mission....however. It would seem he is either incapable or unable to perform his mission if he is their and as such, he will need our help" Yui smiled and nodded as she began to draw up the requirements for such a large operation according to Rei's knowledge of where the castle was located.  
  
Shinji was alone in his tent when Asuka looked in on him, wondering if he had yet recovered from his injuries in the ice fields. As Asuka looked in she saw Shinji peel back the bandages from his face while gazing into a mirror. Shinji looked upon the thin line of scarred over flesh upon a thin duration of his face. The smashed the mirror against the table where it lay and Asuka backed up slowly, her reaction more of sadness than shock over Shinji's injuries. Shinji's tears flowed along his face as he suddenly began to recall the actions he took when this other version of himself, this Ikari, emerged. Shinji sat very still, wondering if he could sense this darker, nightmarishly cruel version of himself inside his heartbeats. He could not feel it physically yet he knew it was lurking beneath the waters of his soul...somewhere. As Asuka entered his tent Shinji recoiled his face, his hand trying desperately to cover his wound. Asuka crept ever close, her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder. Shinji shudder as her hand cupped his arm and drew him closer to her chest, gently and soothingly caressing his face, her embrace like a warm blanket over his turbulent state. Shinji looked up, his head fully reared and his face completely visible in the moonlight, his tears still running. Asuka smiled as he pulled her closer, his lips meeting hers in a long kiss. Asuka couldn't help hut welcome this as it had been literally years since they were...close to one another. Shinji felt Asuka begin to stroke his shoulder and removed her long jacket, exposing her bare shoulders to the cold air. Asuka smiled slightly as she felt Shinji slowly pull her undershirt off over her head, revealing her chest to her lover as in a way such things were meant to be done. The sleeping bag wasn't much in the way of comfort but the two soldiers, no longer children, settled into it, allowing their own bodies to generate the heat necessary for movement. Asuka's body reeled in the warm electric power of Shinji's touch as they both explored one another, expressing through touch what words could not express. Shinji massaged Asuka's muscles across her front and back, easing the odious tension she was feeling from both her feelings and the cold wind that managed to sweep through the tent. But Asuka pulled closer still to Shinji, her mouth over his and their arms tightly wound around one another. Their they stayed until Asuka smiled serenely at Shinji and spoke the words that changed Shinji forever:  
  
"Shinji. When I first meet you I thought you were boring and even a bit...gay, to be perfectly honest. But, then I saw a person who didn't know his parents well and the ones he did know, he dint like. I...never knew love really, so I dint know WHAT I felt for you. Then, seeing you express emotions to Rei, I felt jealous about my feelings. When you began to move closer to Rei, I panicked. Then Yui arrived. I saw you become more "human" than you were before and it was then, that night at the UN conference, that I realized...I loved you Shinji Ikari. Then, gradually I felt you return my love and I felt complete. But, when the Lance arrived and you ascended up into the Beast, I thought I had lost you forever so I...lost hope. I didn't believe in you, that you could overcome Damien's power. I...died that day, inside I mean. But then, when I saw you emerge with the Longinus Lance, I knew you were the one who was meant for me and only me. Not Yui, not Helen, not Rei...myself, my own Shinji. These past months have been hell and I know we may not live to see the next dawn. That is why...I want you to express your love to me fully and I want to accept that love." As small tears slid down Asuka's face Shinji embraced her and they both completely immersed one another in the others presence, becoming, for one moment in eternity, one being, each apart of the other mentally and physically. As the night closed to make way for dawn, the suns warm rays stirred Shinji wake, his mind eased to see Asuka beside him, asleep. Shinji emerged from the tent, having dressed and readied himself for the next mission. It was then Shinji's world shattered. In the blink of an eye Shinji could literally FEEL his heart be pulled in two by ice tailored hands. As Asuka emerged from the tent to embrace him in a hug a single bullet shot rang out like the explosion of countless bombs. Asuka, still in his arms, suddenly collapsed against him, her blood hitting his face in a shocking experience rivaled by no other pain imaginable. A single shot had coursed through Asuka's skull and now she lay their, unmoving and silent. Shinji stood their foe only a few seconds yet it was a millennia in his tattered mind. Looking up he saw a lone figure in the distance, his hand clenching a sniper riffle...his riffle. Heyates. Cloaked in long flowing robes that caught the air and a scared jaw, his form seemed like the very specter of the reaper itself. Shinji collapsed onto the snow next to Asuka, his hands reaching through her auburn hair, hoping she would awaken and finish her embrace. Such was not the case. Shinji could feel his anger swelling like a tidal wall of power, its force lifting him up and empowering him with a feeling of...rage. Rei and Yui raced up to Shinji's side but he knocked them both down, his muscles tensed to the point that they bleed on his knuckled. Shinji was then swallowed up by the all-consuming wave that was Ikari, his powers now expressing himself as a look of blank hatred. Heyates threw the gun at the approaching persons feet. Shinji looked down and picked it up, his movements still carrying him towards Heyates who was not moving. Shinji stopped about seven feet from the undead ronnin's form, Ikari now immersed by his shadow.   
"I am sorry to involve the young woman, child, but it was necessary to summon up the demon in you." Iakri raised his head and simply spoke in a voice devoid of emotion.  
"Here I am. What now." Heyates smiled as he drew his katana once more, its metal catching thee rays of the sun in a long shimmer that coursed down the length of the weapon. Then, Heyates drew another katana, a smaller one, from his cloak and threw it to Ikari. Ikari looked down and traded a look of question with Heyates.  
"You will take this blade and we shall fight, to the death, as honorable warriors. This is how it is." Heyates suddenly looked on in horror as Ikari began to laugh, his voice eventually becoming a maddened scream, his words choking on his own tears.  
"YOU BASTARD! DID ASUKA GET AN HONNORABLE DEATHDID SHE? SHE WAS THE WARRIOR, NOT ME! HOW DID YOU KIL HER? YOU SHOT HER AS HE WAS REACHING OUT O ME! YOU, A CREAURE WITH NO PITTY OR HONNOR DARE NOW TO EVEN MENTION A DUEL WITH ME, THE PERSON WHOSE LOVE YOU JUST MURDERD! DAMN YOUR HONNOR!" Ikari then took up his mauser and with its butt end, smashed it across the ronnins face, sending him reeling onto the ground. Ikari then picked up the blade that was at his feet and drew it from its scabbed. Heyates looked up, his hand outstretched in a frantic movement to halt Shinij's course of action  
"Don't be a fool. I will always return and each time I will take another of your loved ones until I have slain this demon that dwells in you. I can not die because eI will always be salvaged and resurrected. Your battle is a loosing one.!" Ikari paused for a moment and looked at the weapon in his hands  
"Well then. I suppose I will have to make sure there is nothing left to salvage then wont I." Heyates'es eyes widened in terror as he saw the blade sweep over his chest. Heyates went to scream but before he could his throat was severed in a spray of blood. Ikari then punched the blade into the ronnins chest and pulled in several directions, creating a bloody chasm of flesh and bone. Suddenly Rei and Yui tackled Ikari, pulling him away from the blade. Screaming in anger Shinji pulled against his allies restraint to pick the blade back up. But Shinji's creams melted into sobs as he rolled into a ball in the snow, his mind settling down in a burning sensation, his focus returning and the horrific memories of Asuka replaying in his mind. Shinji staggered up and walked up to the almost completely lifeless corpse that was his lover's killer.  
"Where is Aki...WHERE!?' shouted Shinji. Heyates opened his mouth to answer but only blood emerged, not words. Realizing the horror of the past few minutes Shinji began to pound on Heyates'es chest, the blood coating his hands. Shinji looked at his hands and then in the distance saw the motionless Asuka, her soul now dancing amid the angles of Zion. Shinji touched his long scar and began to weep massively. Rei went to comfort Shinji, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Shinji recoiled and punched Rei square in the jaw.  
  
"Stay away from me, Rei. Stay away."   
  
Rei looked into Shinji's hollow eyes and was afraid. 


	8. Chapter 7: the Days we Lost

CHAPTER 7: The Days We Lost  
  
Asuka's body seemed to be in a wave of great heat as she felt her physical form slip away from her mind, which was now enveloped in a great light. Asuka saw Shinji, his face blank as she then looked upon her own body, wounded to the skull by an obvious bullet. Bewildered at these series of events Asuka reached out to grab Shinji's arm and in horror, saw her hand pass straight through him. "You can not physically communicate with him." A voice suddenly said, its tone and patterns familiar to Asuka, something that seemed to ease the confused sate she was in: Michael, the Arc Angel. Standing amid the snow and morning light was the great war-angel himself, clad in the most beautiful of heavens armor and wielding a sword that seemed to have been crafted from solid silver. Michaels wings of blue fire flickered away as he approached the young girl, his glowing eyes dimming to show their yellow pupils.  
  
"What is…going on here? I thought you would not interfere with the actions of Force 34?" Asuka said, her voice hinting a tone of wonder yet still shocked to see the being that asked Shinji weather or not to pursue Aki through the powers of the Longinus lance.  
  
"Not directly no, but the Lord has allowed me to assist you should you enter our space be it my nature or phenomena. And here you are."  
  
"Am I…dead?"  
  
"In a way yes, but in another way no. The thing that fuels the body is the soul, the power that it generates, the AT Field. When a soul dissipates the field is destroyed and the body slowly destroys itself through decay and the like. You however have not dissipated and so, your AT Field still functions, keeping your body safe."  
  
"Why am I not…where I belong?"  
  
"Simple. You are not finished here, in this place, in this time. Your destiny is one that has many chapters to come across and many tales to weave. Dieing like this is not, in the eyes of heaven, seen as "just". You will be reborn very soon." Asuka looked slowly on as she saw the violent surfacing of Ikari and his sadistic assault on Heyates.  
  
"What is wrong with him. He has a power within him that he cant seem to keep under control."  
  
"That is the problem with the race of men. They have the power to choose. Now while this is a great blessing, in other ways, for other people, it can be their downfall. Shinji has lived in a world where the choices he had to make were not his own, they were forced on him. As a result the TRUE Shinji was suppressed and twisted into a hateful apparition that seems to surface in times of great trauma. But Shinji is not the only one doing this: there is evil at work as well. It would seem Aki commands not only the armies of the living, but with her master, she has a troop of demons as well. One of these, Pain, has infested Shinji and when the time is right, Pain surges Ikari out and causes great plight to Shinji's mind. Aki is trying to break him from the inside." Asuka looked on in horror as Shinji awoke from his nightmare to see the damage he had inflicted in his lust for revenge. Michael smiled at Asuka and put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Do not be worried. His love for you is stronger than Aki or even her master. He is already conceiving a way to revive you, a way that could cost all of Stalingrad if stopped to soon."  
  
"I do not understand." Said Asuka, her voice trailing off as she watched her Shinji pass by, unaware she was walking alongside him.  
  
  
  
Shinji walked into Yui's tent and handed her a marked map, a big red circle around a specific point.  
  
"What is this?" asked Yui. Shinji sat down and waited for Yui to read the exact location. As Yui did, her eyes widened and her face red with anger. "You aren't serious. NO! We can and will not go through with a suicide mission!"  
  
"It is not suicide…it is revival. The enemy has a whole center for reviving the dead soldiers they scrap up there. Rei has seen how the Lazarus Bath works. If you will not help me I will go alone." Yui immediately burst out of her chair and slugged Shinji in the stomach, along his scar, her voice quivering with anger.  
  
"NOW YOU LISTEN HERE! Once there was a couple, a couple who loved one another very much, almost as much as you love Asuka. But one day the man lost his love in a horrific accident. In his anguish and torment the man went through dangerous methods to revive his love. That process caused disastrous things to come forth, both for the man and the woman and the woman's children"  
  
"And did it work?"  
  
"Ask Rei. She is the result of those methods. If you try and revive Asuka you could be doing one in a billion monstrous things to her body or worse, her soul. In case you haven't noticed the things we shoot at aren't necessarily alive and as such they are merely Aki's freakish minions. If we use the Lazarus Bath on Asuka we could be handing her over to the enemy!"  
  
"Mother, did you know that camp is also the chief production facility for ALL of Aki's zombie forces in this area, the only area even infested at the moment. If you want to save the ruins of this city than HERE is the place to do it. You said you would be funded for one last mission? Make it one that matters." Yui looked on the map and then into Shinji's red eyes, choked from tears. "Very well. But if I even THINK Asuka will become one of Aki's minions I will kill her again myself and spare both of us a world of torment." Shinji managed a smile as he raced out to inform the soldiers and Rei of their last mission in Stalingrad…the one that could either make or break the city…and Asuka.  
  
  
  
Carmine looked up at the huge structure before him, his eyes as big as saucers in its refection. Standing nearly thirty feet tall, the massive maroon colored spire in the shape of a double helix was suspended over the equally massive vat of chemicals. As teams of men raced around inspecting a variety of instruments, Aki herself was operating the main controls that would send millions of volts of power through the lance and down into the chemical brew below. The chemicals, a gel-like yellow soup, seemed to be a type of jellified LCL. Aki stared over at Carmine and Damien who both gave the go-ahead command signals while the crews cleared the surroundings. With a flick of the switch Aki generated a massive electric spark that soon enveloped the whole lance and streaked down into the gel vat, its color soon tinting to a deep blue as more electricity was coursed through the lance. Aki's eyes shone with a powerful malevolence as technicians went to store the vast supply of Lazarus Bath in a series of special heavy containers for transport to places outside Stalingrad. Soon, all of Europe would topple in an undying war and with it, the future. But Aki would be long gone before that happened, safe in feudal Japan…as soon as Damien cracked the necessary requirements for OPERATION ZERO to work. Constructing an Evagelion from the tattered remains of the 08 unit and the various electronic of the time was a difficult task but one the Third Reich was prepared to meet. The Prototype, codenamed GILGAMESH, was a beautifully designed paperweight. Crafted to be the most powerful EVA unit in the hopes of destroying Yui and her band, this monster would rise up and do its terrible deeds…as soon a method of power delivery could be supplied. Steam was too expensive and nuclear wasn't even feasible at the moment, however, a new diesel power generator plus the EVA's existing technology would soon allow an operational time of one hour…more than enough to destroy all of Stalingrad and Yui. Then, Aki thought, the truth behind the ASIER project would begin. ASIER. Created by SEELE as a method of "selective rapture" by using the Longinus lance, it was meant to succeed the project E altogether and even the man-created 3rd impacts scenario. HOWEVER, when Yui emerged and with her knowledge tried to use the ASIER WITH the project E, the shadowy group known as LEGION assumed center stage in their bid to resurrect an age of demonic rule over the planet. When it seemed like the final demonic herald had finally been destroyed, Aki emerged with her treachery and arcane science to shroud the Earth in a blanket of evil. But now, through the meddling of Zion, Aki, the remains of the Evangelion 08, Damien and their mutual master were all in the middle of World War 2, a scenario not without its benefits to a mad scientist and the prince of darkness himself. But then there was Tyr, Aki's seregent "son" that she created from nano-machines, angel and demon DNA and even slight manipulation of AT Fields. What was meant to be the perfect weapon was now her mortal enemy and even responsible for her untimely death, an incident without its ironies, and thus the wheel of fate spun round: Tyr was a prisoner in Aki's dungeons awaiting conference with her. Aki decided to bide her time and let Tyr soak up the local scenery of the prison camps while she oversaw the transportation of the huge L.B. drums. Aki turned to look up at the massive silver EVA. Once Tyr had been brainwashed Aki would have her revenge and her master would accomplish his mission….in the mean time, another dozen Hitler youth children were selected to test the pilots system, a guaranteed death. Aki personally didn't care and rather enjoyed watching the children try and prevent their minds from caving in around them.  
  
  
  
  
  
Asuka and Michael, unseen by the eyes of mortal men, watched on as Yui prepared the last officially financed mission of the 34th in Russia…the final strike upon Aki's LAZARUS Laboratories in west Stalingrad. The mission would be as stated by Yui, her mind a focused Crystal in its prime. Yui opened up a massive over-view chart and laid it out on the table before the remains of her soldiers, hoping the preparing would pay off.  
  
" The station is heavily fortified by a set of experimental tanks, codenamed RAZORBACKS due to there oddly shaped turrets which house a set of grenade launching devices. Then theirs the ABEL soldiers that wont go down simply by single shots. Using machine gun fire will sever their limbs and cut off their attack success ratio. Grenades also seem to work well. Once inside we will capture the facilities and then Shinji will trade Asuka's revival for a free escape from this city via an underground transport that is trying to get everyone our BEFORE the Russians arrive to re-take the city. It will be a blood bath. If the scientists don't agree Rei knows enough about the process to take some guess work at the machinery. We expect a massive battle so we will have access to a pair of half-tracks, motorbikes, a large supply of panzer fasts and a heavy MG-40. Tonight is the night we show Aki that nobody messes with the 34th!" A cheer rose up through the soldiers as Shinji looked over, behind the crowds to see Asuka's body stretched on a transport litter, safety harnesses in place. Asuka's spirit loomed over the scene, a feeling of helplessness in the air. Michael watched as Asuka carefully looked over her own corpse, the curiosity seeming inescapable.  
  
"You will re reborn. The Lord will see to that. But when you are revived, beware. This altercation is far from over and will not end in this time. There is one other war for the EVA pilots to fight."  
  
"But what about our Evagelions! They're all in England and can't even be turned on! How can we fight Aki without them!" Michael smiled as took hold of Asuka's hand, lifting he into the air as they began to hover over Shinji.  
  
"We will stay close to him for a while, yes?" Michael asked. Asuka nodded  
  
  
  
Shinji looked down at the corpse of Heyates, his mutilated body a ghastly symbol of the power revenge could take. "Why is THIS thing still here. It should be burned." Rei suddenly walked out of the shadows and answered his query, the sudden voice startling him and causing him to leap back a good few feet.  
  
"Yui thinks that if the scientists will not barter Asuka's revival for their safety than they will take this persons body in the hopes of earning a promotion."  
  
"BUT HE WOULD JUST COME BACK!"  
  
"Maybe. But if it gained you time with Asuka would you take the chance. Personally I do not think he would come after her again, not after your reaction."  
  
"THAT'S JUST IT! This person seems to be more interested in killing my "other self" than the one Aki wants dead. To goad this "Ikari" out, he'll kill everyone I know…even you Rei. Rei frowned a bit and walked up to Shinji her face a rock of determination.  
  
"Shinji when you were asked by Michael if you wanted to pursue Aki through this time, through this world, you agreed and I agreed as well. I fully expect the fates we meet here will be destined and even though you may not believe it at times, everyone is entitled to happiness. Yours it would seem is being with Asuka. My source of happiness is you, thus, when you are unhappy, I cannot find peace. To restore balance Asuka will be revived…I swear my life on it."  
  
"Rei…don't do that. Don't ever beet something like your life on a task you may not succeed at."  
  
"You mean like how you willingly attempted to destroy Satan from the inside during the day at the Lance? That wasn't foolish? If you had failed the entire human race could have been annihilated but you went ahead anyway. Our mission here is no different. Unless stopped, Aki and her horde will consume the world." Shinji looked at Rei in wonder at seeing how much she had grown in three years. Rei looked up at Shinji, their eyes interlocking, both of then agreeing to protect the other with a silent nod.  
  
  
  
Kernner sat in his private office amid the most "luxurious" of Stalingrad bases, his mind emptied of all thoughts as e clenched his katana. Suddenly a cold power overcame the room, its aura like that of death. Kernner fell on his face, his hands clenched over his throat as he struggled, not to close iy, but to prevent his seemly spastic inhailence of the cold air. With a powerful rush of dark power, Kernner rose up and opened his blood red eyes. Soon, Shinji would arrive…and he would be their to meet him.  
  
  
  
The camp was pitch black as Tyr wadded through the inch thick sloth of human waste and filth, his senses reeling in discomfort. Tyr had been lowered into "PIT 9", the lowest level of the camps facilities. Having had been thrown into a drainage ditch and awaiting his "conference" with Aki, Tyr began to explore this dank pit to which his soul and body had been banished. Tyr soon found their were platforms elevated four feet above the foul and disgusting much, upon which were set wooden cots and bedding. In the shadows Tyr saw many other people, their bodies withered and sanded down like dried ears of corn. Moaning in agony over malnourishment, sickness and despair these poor souls reached out to find comfort in the others pain, something one did not have to look very far to get. As Tyr sat on the edge of a wooden pier, a young hand, presumably a woman, grabbed Tyr by the shoulder, pulling him closer to the shadow covered face that's seemed so intently curious in him. Tyr could almost FEEL the concentration brewing thoughts in this person head until finally the person, a woman in her late years, spoke out. "I was afraid they would one day find you and now, alas, on this horrible day of days, they succeed!."  
  
"Ma'am whom are you and what are you talking about!? If anything I am here to ensure the twisted powers of Aki die in this place."  
  
"Your intentions may be true sir but the truth is already been foretold. I saw you liberate a small village from germen soldiers last year. You and your men fought bravely and I watched and cheered for you. But then, a few months ago, I was brought here. It was hear I learned that the soldier called Tyr was to be captured for Aki's dark intentions, that you would pilot her machine of destruction…the GILGAMESH." Tyr sneered and spit in the black waters below.  
  
"Nonsense. The day I pilot one of Aki's machine, the day I die! I've seen that horror firsthand and would not wish it upon any body.".  
  
"Was this "death weapon" shaped like a massive person with armor plating?"  
  
"Indeed. I have heard stories of how the Hitler Youth divisions were trying to be the one chosen to pilot that hideous monster. So far, none have survived." Tyr felt as if the scream in his lungs would never escape. Aki's madness had infested so deep it was not killing CHILDREN, like him, like Shinji…like Rei. Tyr suddenly realized what they had all become over the past two years…child killers, those who possess the youth of babes yet murder their fellowmen. Was that why Tyr was here, in this pit of tartarus? It was then that the main access panel into PIT 9, was opened and from it came a powerful blast of light that sent may persons reeling in pain from its explosion of luminance. Tyr looked around and couldn't help but wear a faint smile as he thought back onto the book Dates Inferno where one must sufferer the lowest level of hell in order to reach heaven at the end. His time to confront his nemesis, the enemy of all men, Dr. Aki, had come at long last.  
  
  
  
Michael and Asuka were now high over the city of Stalingrad, the full scope of carnage having set in Asuka's mind and body. It was horrific. Michael unfurled his wings of luminance power and descended back into 34's camp, Asuka beside him. When last these two had meet the situation was far worse seeing as how the power of the ASIER, the way to destroy the demonic race, to gain another 2 millennia on the planet, to finally bring about a new Genesis, was corrupted and perverted by Aki and her dark powers over the experimental EVANGELION UNIT 8.  
  
"Michael, may I ask you something?" The beautiful Arc Angel turned and looked into Asuka's eyes, his own glowing retinas soothing her tension immediately. "Its just…what is Aki trying to do here?"  
  
"She is attempting to resurrect enough soldiers here, in a time where war is rampant, to aide her in her mission's final stage: the resurrection of the Fallen One inside of an Evagelion body"  
  
"But that day in 2016, when Aki corrupted the Lance, I thought Satan did assume the body of an EVA, the 08 wasn't it?"  
  
"No. The bestial monster you battled was a combination of various things. The physical body was a clone of Lilith, an angelic best. The Consciousness was that of Aki and her downloaded mind while Damien provided reflexes. Satan gave the powers of darkness to the EVA and in the process, simply aided the Evangelion rather than fully possess it. When the Beast assumed its final form and took Damien's 06, Shinj's 01 and Rei's 00, Satan was trying to attempt a fusion of souls…but Shinji was stronger and stopped that calamity."  
  
"Why…is Aki doing all these horrible things? She aided LEGION, she abetted with the devil and now she's resurrecting soldiers to help her destroy the human race! Why?"  
  
"Because she knows the EVA is an eternal symbol of mankind's power against the establishment in heaven and although we do not LIKE the EVA, we see them now as mankind's necessary crutch in order to reach a new level of being with us and vice versa. That is why we are helping you Asuka…you children are the hope of heaven and the earth. You are the only ones capable of wielding the EVA against the powers of darkness."  
  
"But our EVA's aren't capable of movement at all here in this time since there is no NERV."  
  
"Not to worry. All will become clear soon enough." Said Michael, his gaze looking off into the skies above.  
  
"So, when I am "restored" will my…soul…go back into my body instantly?"  
  
"Indeed. But we must hurry. It would seem the 34th has finished its preparations and is going to head out."  
  
  
  
Shinji sat in the side of the truck, his grip tight on his Mauser as he saw Yui finish the detailed explanation of the assault to a few late Russian soldiers returning from a battle. Suddenly Shinji looked back and saw Rei cleaning her riffle. Shinji blushed a bit as he wondered what he could possibly say to apologize.  
  
"You do not need to say anything." Said Rei, her voice scented with mercy and understanding. Shinji was shocked by her comment and then looked away, upset over making Rei think of the way he treated her.  
  
"Rei, I…I am very sorry. I wasn't thinking straight."  
  
"You were not yourself Shinji. Asuka's death phased all of us…especially you therefore it is quite all right to express anger, love and various other emotions."  
  
Shinji felt his hands tense up with anticipation as Yui got inside the truck, leavening their old base behind and setting forth to destroy the source of a dark cancer in the dieing city of Stalingrad. First, the team consisting of three vehicles would arrive at a weapons check in point. It wouldn't last long. Next would be the actual fighters and other nightmarish monstrosities at the main center…then Asuka and Hiatus's bodies would be unloaded from their crates and taken inside for either revival or destruction. Yui raced along the snow-crusted roads, the sounds of massive explosions in the background. Off in the distance, a storm had gathered and was inching forth, ready to unload its cargo of rain and thunder.  
  
  
  
The germen gatekeeper for the LAZARUS Station, as it had come to be "nicknamed" sat against his chair and pointed his gun at a variety of objects, pretending them to be enemy soldiers. A yawn escaped the man as he looked out to see the massive storm clouds had reached their station. Suddenly, three trucks drove up without even an armored escort. The soldier walked up; ready to see any paper these trucks would need to show. As the soldier walked around the back of one truck he looked around in horror to see the barrel of an MG-40 machine gun set up in the back of one cargo bay staring into his face. He didn't have one for long. Racing through the barricade the three trucks immediately spread out and swung open their rear doors. In a strategic formation the seven Russian soldiers, all maxed out with weaponry, explosives and throwing knives, raced to unload the MG-40 and the bazooka launchers in case of an air resistance. That's when everything began. Three guards raced up to see what the burst of gunfire was and in a matter of seconds were cut down. Shinji and Rei unslung their MAUSER riffles and locked their safeties off, a look of razor sharp determination in their eyes. They were ready. The complex was straight ahead, by only a few feet. The Russian soldiers grabbed the two crates from the back of a truck and on Shinji's command they ran like hell to get to the entrance. While they ran head, one soldier with a single fire missile prepared to open the door for them. With a press of a trigger, a single missile streaked ahead of Shinji and his group, blowing a heavy metal door wide open and startling half the complex in the process. As soldiers flooded the destroyed opening of the door Shinji and Rei's grenades cleared them out a bit ore. In the chaos and confusion the Russian team entered the complex, switching to single handed arms while the shouts and howls of scientists could be heard everywhere. Shinji, having gone over the map of the building already, began to lead the men along the winding halls and wards of the eerily empty building while outside, machine gun and grenade fire could clearly he heard. Now three floors below the main level, Shinji and the group reached a ward which seemed to have just finished unloading massive drums of what seemed to be something marked by the Blue cross insignia…Aki. Shinji and Rei drew their guns and on queue, burst into the laboratory.  
  
"NOBODY MOVE!" shouted Shinji and the Russians spread out to contain the scientists and engineers. The room was massive with at least a dozen tanks full of reviving soldiers…all soldiers who would one day try and kill innocent people. In his best germen Shinji began his missions speech to convince these "men" to revive Asuka and flee Stalingrad, or refuse, stay and die. The scientists were abuzz with confusion as the boxes were opened and they looked at the young girl, her head having been bandaged up as best it could have been. Some scientists were in favor of the process while others tried to "stand tall for the Reich" and refuse. Shinji was running out of patience while Asuka was running out of time.  
  
  
  
  
  
The room was quite well furnished and decorated in the styling of late French architecture. Tyr, smelling foul due to his previous location, was handcuffed and brought into this room to await Aki and her "partner" Dr. Carmine. Tyr looked the room over when suddenly the south door opened and in walked Aki, looking as youthfully evil as she did two years earlier. "I see the business of time traveling has been as god to you as it has been to me. We don't age." Tyr scoffed loudly as he tried to physically break off the handcuffs but found them, as he expected, too strong.  
  
"It's been a long time Tyr, since you tired to kill me that is."  
  
'I DID kill you heartless bitch. Too bad your master didn't have enough sense to keep you that way when he turned tail and ran into another timeline to escape two millennia of imprisonment in hell"  
  
"Witty to the ever boring end are we? I created you from perfect warriors, pilots, and mathematicians. You were to be the ultimate and now you're the ultimate fool. Tyr, why did Shinji follow me here? Why didn't he just leave me be and allow the powers above to handle me?"  
  
"Because Shinji knows the EVA is the only thing capable of confining Satan and the Longinus Lance. Don't cat stupid."  
  
"Yet, how ironic, the Eva's YOU have aren't able to move whatsoever. Mine on the other hand seems to do just fine."  
  
"You're bluffing. Theirs no way you could have created a working Evangelion unit in this era!"  
  
"Oh no? You have been brought here my boy, not to be a prisoner…but a pilot, like you were meant to be last time, all those years ago. Except this time I wont have LEGION breathing down my neck!"  
  
"You really are stupider than you look. You actually believe I will pilot an EVA you created to destroy mankind! Go fuck yourself!"  
  
"In time, you Tyr will believe me to be the savior of this barren planet. You will pilot the GILGAMESH, you WILL resurrect Satan onto this material plane and then you will come with me to the past. Just like that."  
  
"What sick game is it you're planning? I assumed you would want to go to the future, not the past!"  
  
"Now whose the idiot. That would collapse subspace and create a temporal loop in reality. No, my plan is to achieve a level of power beyond man, beyond angel, beyond EVA."  
  
"Impossible."  
  
"Well…well soon see won't we." Suddenly Carmine entered the conversation, his voice cracked and quite annoying to listen too.  
  
"Well now Aki. When will Jens have captured my prize?! You know the Whermacht is going to move in here soon and time is precious!"  
  
  
  
  
  
The scientists continued to argue until Shinji walked in amid them and pushed the leader of the foolish die-hard nazi's down and pointed a gun at the old mans face, Shinji's eyes full of tears. "Take this opportunity to live sir. Revive my love and escape this…hell." The old scientist looked deep into Shinji's eyes and then nodded reluctantly. The scientists immediately got to work and filled a vat with a new drum of the LAZARUS liquid. Asuka's "crate" was opened and carefully her body was lowered into the chemical solution  
  
**Asuka suddenly felt a wave of heat course over her spiritual form, like a living current of electricity. Michael approached her, their spiritual selves now suspended over the scope of Russia. Michael smiled as his eyes began to shine radiantly, his voice carrying with it a mighty power. "Asuka Langley Soryu, it is with the blessing of the Lord our God that you be restored through human means. The final battle is not yet here but may you be ready when it is."  
  
  
  
Shinji watched on as the troop of scientists began to lower electrical sensors into the chemical tanks and fiddle with levers and knobs. Suddenly a massive current of power was sent through the chemicals and solvents, their color transforming with heat as the reactions in Asuka's body occurred. Shinji watched in amazement as the wound over Asuka's bandaged head began to repair itself, the very cells moving at million of times their normal healing speed. Then Shinji cried out as he saw Asuka begin to bend and stretch, he lungs filled with the liquid. Coming up above the tank Asuka coughed up the clear gel-like solution, her body wet and still carrying with it an electric heat. Shinji raced up to the tanks side as the scientists and Russian helped lower Asuka from the tank.  
  
"Asuka! Are you okay how do you feel!?"  
  
"I feel…tired. Shinji, I know what Aki is going to do…Michael told me…we, need to hurry.  
  
  
  
Yu and her troops were too busy with the machine gunfire and grenading to notice the black troop transport vehicle pull in at the southern end of the complex. From its armored hull marched out twelve men, their faces scarred and aged in their shroud-like visages. The soldiers, all revived corpses, were armed to the teeth and they were intent of fulfilling their mission: eliminate everyone. Then, from the back of the vehicle and the soldiers came another person, his body draped in a long flowing black coat, a katana at his side. The person's eyes glowed a pale blue as he looked straight at Yui. Kernner. Yui shudder as the figures entered the building. Satan had taken a temporary physical form…and was headed for Shinji.  
  
"We need to get into the building NOW!" shouted Yui.  
  
"We can't do that ma'am! Were going to be shot apart if we even approach the building. The only thing we can hope for now is that the other inside is able to make it out.  
  
  
  
Asuka staggered to her feet as she Shinji and Rei, along with the scientists and Russian soldiers, prepared to leave the complex. But as they approached the entrance, which was also the exit they were greeted but a massive amount of revived soldiers armed with high-level weaponry. Shinji stood still in his tracks as the lines of ABELS parted and a face Rei recognized stepped forward. The longhaired figure spoke in a voice that seemed to be eloquent, yet venomous, a tone that instilled horror and respect. "Ah, so these are the members of the illustrious 34th division of free soldier, the valiant saviors of the Russian east. You disappoint me." Suddenly from the very back of the armed men blocking the exit came a tall figure, his arms riddling a powerful long-range sniper rifle. "I believe you know Jens." Said Kernner. Rei gritted her teeth under her breath as she clenched a fist. Kernner looked over at the two boxes on the ground, one empty, the other filled with the corpse of Heyates, his body a bloody tatter of its former identity. Kernner snapped his fingers and the ABEL soldiers rushed over and took Heyates, lowering him into the LAZARUS tank just used on Asuka. Still at gunpoint Shinji could do nothing as Kernner flipped the main circuit lever that sent the powerful current through Hiatus's body, reviving the spark of life and repairing his shredded form back into a swift killer. Kernner smiled as Heyates began to pull himself up, a great gasp of air erupting from his tired and aching lungs. Collapsing to the ground Heyates arose, his long scar still visible. Shinji felt the side of his face, the wound that had not yet fully heal, begin to burn like a great fire: Ikari wanted out. Shinji gripped his head, trying to keep him caged in. Shinji resisted further as it seemed Ikari was pulling and prying the chains that kept him bound. The pain in Shinji's head seemed to be multiplying until Asuka bent down and cupped her lips to his in a small kiss, her words resonating through him: "Shinji, be strong." Then, the pain vanished and dissipated as Shinji regained his control. Bit control or not he was still surrounded by enemy soldier, Asuka was weakened and the situation looked bleak. Kernner walked up to Shinji and smiled a small smile, his white teeth now visible. Unsheathing his katana he ran it along Shinji's scar ever so gently. Shinji felt the electric power of his anger but still kept it in check. Kernner's eyes then seemed to glow a powerful red color, like fire as Shinji suddenly realized who and WHAT Kernner currently was. Shinji knew he had recognized the aura o darkness as the one he felt, as the Lance but was afraid to say it: Satan was smiling at him.  
  
  
  
Yui and her soldiers continued to supply fire on the germen soldiers when a set of trucks suddenly drove up next to them. Yui drew her gun up and aimed it at the driver's side of the truck, waiting to shoot if she even saw a hint of a swastika. But as the door opened, Yui suddenly broke out in tears of joy.  
  
"I…thought you were gone forever..or worse!" Yui said.  
  
"Well you know us types: Whenever theirs a fight, don't count us out!" the voice said.  
  
"I don't suppose you would be interested in storming that military research complex over their would you" said Yui sarcastically.  
  
"I would like nothing better" said the figure. "Would my soldiers be allowed to come along too?" Yui looked as the figure whistled, a large number of men exited the trucks.  
  
"Lets get going." Said the figure as Yui wiped away her tears and turned to make sure the coast was clear of too much enemy fire.  
  
  
  
Shinji and the others were lined up along the main wall of the large room, their captures now assuming the line up for a firing squad. Kernner smiled a she raised up his katana and readied the command to open fire. Shinji and Asuka gripped their hands and they awaited the sweet embrace of eternity. Suddenly Kernner's hand exploded in a high impact explosion, his katana flying against the wall. Kernner looked over to the exit to see Yui and her men aiming machine guns at them. Kernner's eyes widened in horror as a massive volley of bullets coursed through them in a massive surprise attack. For a whole minute the machine guns were blazing, the bodies of the ABELS turning to red pieces of meat. Shinji and the other looked over and to Rei's great joy, there was Helen, fully dressed in a personalized officers uniform! Helens was radiantly beautiful, her long locks of blonde hair falling over her shoulders as her eyes ablaze of passion and color. Uncontrollably Rei ran up and embraced her good friend whom she had thought dead. Shinji ran up with Asuaka's as well, trying to see if this was a dream or not: it was real all right.  
  
"I hate to break up the reunion but in few minutes the germen army is going to storm this place and kill everyone here! We have to get out of Russian and try and find out where Aki is!" Helen suddenly turned and cast a long smile.  
  
"Come with me and my men then. We know exactly where she is and how to get there."  
  
"And I know what she is planning" said Asuka. Yui joyously embraced Asuka as the Russian soldiers began to push everyone out the door! "COME ON, LETS MOVE!" one shouted. Yui couldn't agree more.  
  
  
  
Michael stood looking over the children, seeing how they had all grown though none of them had aged a day since arriving here in the alternate world, the world that was under siege by Aki and her demonic forces. Michael pondered their fates when another angel, Raphael, materialized before him.  
  
"Sir, the Lord has an assignment for you." Raphael said. Michael turned and looked at his younger friend, his green light wings expanded and arched in a sign of respect. "He wishes for you to ready your soldiers. It would seem the Fallen One is going to try and make a conference in heaven using the EVA as a medium source. The Lord wants everyone their to hear what he has to say. We will then make the choice of weather or not to bring about the worlds demise."  
  
"YOU ARENT SERIOUS! Why would the Master allow that!"  
  
"Because the EVA possessed by the un-holy ones cold very well be the instrument of man and heaven kinds downfall. The decision hasn't been yet made so be ready to argue your point." Michael nodded and looked upon the children, praying for their safety as they prepared to enter the storm that could consume the world. 


	9. VOTE

MY DECISION…  
  
Ok here's the deal reader. I, the author, have decided to give you, John-Q- Public, the choice to either keep this FIC alive, or scrap it. If I receive 10 reviews in two weeks time, I will realize people are reading this. If not, I will still write it but the story will wind up becoming shallow and weak: I may even just stop. Reader, submit your votes NOW! Time is of the essence…  
  
IF YOU DO WANT THE FIC TO GO ON, HERE ARE SOME OF THE TINGS TO LOOK FOREWARD TO: ( If I get enough votes )  
  
Lots of violent gun battles  
  
A samurai duel aboard a sinking ship  
  
The return of the Angels  
  
Mind possession  
  
Civil War  
  
EVA vs EVA action  
  
SEX, if you're a guy  
  
LOVE STORY, if you're a girl  
  
Big explosions and violence  
  
A motorcycle chase…with missile launchers!  
  
Shinji explores a brothel  
  
A wedding  
  
Zombies in suites vs chain guns  
  
Shinji VS a Japanese ZERO  
  
Gotter Damerang!!! 


	10. chapter 8: ALLIES FROM ABOVE

Chapter 8: New Allies From Above  
  
Tyr's mind was in torment as he awoke from a dazed stupor. Clenching his brow in agony Tyr felt as if a thousand knives had pierces his skull. As he regained his sight Tyr saw he was in an empty lab room, surrounded by operating utensils and other, crude if effective, machinery. Stepping down from the bed on which he awoke, Tyr walked towards the door. As his hand reached for the knob it burst open and their was Aki, her violet purple hair waving in long locks, her green eyes ablaze as they always were . Suddenly Tyr realized this had to have been a dream, something from his past: this was…Tyr suddenly became very cold inside, his skin crawling with the chills of a million screams and cries. This was the room of Adam, the place where Tyr first became introduced to the horrors of the Angel wars. Behind Aki stepped as small boy, his face innocent yet devoid of feeling, as if he had seen all life could offer and still not blink. "NO! Don't go with her! SHE'S USING YOU!" Tyr screamed. The little boy still sat up on the table, his determination to be the perfect child shinning through…even as Aki revealed the key component of power to her, then unstoppable, plan. The disk wasn't overly large per say, more like a bronze place. Upon the plate were various items in the style of arcane rune letters and markings: a warning. Tyr's eyes welled up with tears of hate and rage has she coaxed the small boy into taking off his shirt, fully aware of the next gruesome step. Tyr leapt at the mirror version of Aki and was horrified as he passed through her form, hitting the floor. In sadden shock Tyr looked up to see Aki press the plat to his past self's skin. In a flaming blaze of light their came a power that seemed to blind all in the room…except for Aki. As the white tongues of flame whirled over the small boys body Tyr recalled the feelings of life and death flowing through him, the immense power…and sadness. Suddenly, broken from his levitation, the small Tyr hit the floor, clenching at the metal plate upon his breast, Aki standing above him, smiling while he bitterly held back the tears of pain.  
  
"DAMN YOU! What was it all for!" screamed Tyr, his power seemingly sending a ripple through the fabric of his memory. Suddenly a new presence entered his surroundings, a huge figure that dwarfed his own, a master like silhouette. Then came the voice that plagued Tyr dreams ever since he first heard it, a voice dead yet alive, caring yet deceiving: the voice of the Fallen Angel himself. "Tell me Tyr, what were you feeling then, when Aki told you that it would be you who would re-shape the world." Tyr cringed and clenched his ears.  
  
"I will not answer to you! YOU are not my master!"  
  
"Really? Here you bear my mark and YOU SAY I HAVE NO CLAIM TO YOU!" Tyr's chest suddenly convulsed and his body seemed to be bent like a straw figure, his arms reaching and ripping open his shirt, revealing a scared and twisted flesh picture in the form of a circle, its many burnt in runes now glowing with red fire. Tyr screamed and tried to shut his eyes but found the image inescapable.  
  
"You see Tyr. I wield you like a fine blade: I choose which end to show my enemies. Currently the power of Adam has been dormant within you, lying asleep. But now, now that you "defeated" my planes earlier and that you have woven yourself to the other pilots, the time has come to show your full sharpened power. YOU, TYR are the war god once more!" the voice resonated in Tyr's mind as the flames upon is chest seared deeper and deeper, their singular message of dominance overflowing Tyr thoughts.  
  
"NEVER! My mind is my own and I have sworn to the Arc Angels and their sovereign God to destroy you and your followers!" The amount of pain then tripped to the point where Tyr was about to collapse.  
  
"YOU FUTILE INSECT! YOU SPEAK OF UNDOEING ME? THE BEING WHO HAS THUS FAR ORCHESTRATED EVERY EVENT AND DETAIL? SURRELY YOU DONT THINK MY FLIGHT INTO THIS TIME WAS ACCIDENTAL DO YOU?"  
  
Through his scrams Tyr answered back: "THAN WHY!? WHY ARE WE ALL HERE!"  
  
The cold voice then lost its compassion, its sweet undertones, and was now the voice of a creature spawned by loathsome revenge, a beast that had known ages of unrest: "To serve me." It was in that moment Tyr felt a cold wave of dark light sweep his body and envelop him, his sense enthralled in every worldly pleasure imaginable, the voice now reverting to its sweeter and more manipulative tone: "Tyr, re-join me and all these feelings will be their for you. Love, the sense of family, the feeling of never being alone. Tyr, surely the life as a soldier is grating upon you…give in to the senses I will freely give you and you can find the answers you seek." Tyr was in a state of utter orgasmic and intoxicated bliss when his mind purged the dirtied and unnatural sense from his brain.  
  
"I have a family with Yui now. They provide my sense of belonging, my sense of being. Amongst them I even feel…love, something you are shortly lacking in" Immediately the feelings were replaced by immense and unspeakable pain. Tyr then went dark, returning to a sate of emptiness.  
  
  
  
Helen's riffle burst the zombie-soldiers head open like an over-rip and juicy melon, the spray coating the walls in red. The halls of the Lazarus laboratory were soon coated in the red liquid as the 34th fought their way to the upper level, only to find an entire legion of soldiers awaiting them. From a corner, one Abel lunged at Shinji, its hands having been refined into monstrously talloned claws. Shinji's stepped back and on the demons recoil of is arm, Shinji used the small opening to lunge foreword and shoot the creatures spine out in a fleshy explosion. Pulling the demon off his chest Shinji and the others continued to run along until they realized they were near the transportation loading and unloading zone where they started…and where their trucks were! Yui, freshly equipped with her sub-machine gun provided by one of Helens soldiers, cleared out a pack of Seth hunting dogs and the way was clear to the massive opening their grades made earlier. Outside the sky was at a state of stale dusk and the orange light filtered thought he windows. Rei pulled out her small handgun and shot a few regular soldiers from a broken window as Asuka threw two grenades into a small room where a surprise party HAD been waiting at the exit. Outside there were no more soldiers and the moment to make a mad rush was clear.  
  
  
  
Kernner pulled himself up from the floor, now coated with blood, and rested himself upon the side of the tanks, realizing his body was filled with holes that ere oozing blood. Soon, all the other soldiers and even the newly revived Heyate's lurched up, their voices ringing out in an echoing cry of pain and anger. Kernner, using his katana as a prop, pulled himself into one of the empty Lazarus tanks; his body soon enthralled by the life restoring LCL based enzymes and acids repairing his broken body. Once strong enough, he would find Shinji and his little gang. He would them fully intend to repay him every hole. Still aware of the dark powers that had and still were residing within him, Kernner called then forth, his eyes exploding in a flash of red light, his body emitting a fire that shattered the tank and the L.B within it. Stepping out of the tank, Kernner, now the physically incarnated Beast flexed his muscles and commanded the others to revive themselves. "We must be ready when we are to slaughter the small little lambs." Kernner said, his voice resonating as if two were speaking through him…because their were indeed two patterns: one innocent and charming…the other that of a serpent.  
  
  
  
Shinji and Rei, with Asuka covering return fire for Helen and her men, were only a few feet away from the trucks when a powerful explosion ripped the ground open beneath them. Shinji fell to the ground with a thud. As everyone pulled themselves up they looked over at the complex to see a massive tornado of fire shooting upwards from it, like a huge flaming spike cutting through the glass, concrete and enemy soldiers. As the flames dissipated, their was the a lone person in the red crimson embers, his long black hair and glowing blue eyes a powerful sight, along with his wings which seemed to be spun from inversed light of dieing stars. Satan. "IKARI!" the voice bellowed. "I ONCE GAVE YOU THE CHANCE TO STAND AT MY SIDE, TO BE MY SECOND! BUT YOU HAVE FOESAEKN THAT ROAD FOR ANOTHER; ONE I FEEL HAS DISILLISUONED YOU TO YOUR PURPOSE! I WILL ONCE AGAIN GIVE YOU THE CHOICE: JOIN ME OR DIE!" The heat of the flames was intense and the presence of the dark angel seemed to want to swallow Shinji whole. But still, despite cries from Asuka and Rei, he stepped foreword, his pace becoming a steady march to the demon suspended in a whirlwind of flames. Stan looked down, his eyes now spheres of light that pierced Shinji's soul.  
  
  
  
"What say you to my offer Shinji? Will you become the one who wields my sword upon the land as you were meant to be? Or will you be one of those mindless sheep whom the blade will inevitably slice!" Shinji lifted is head upwards, amid the nearly blinding heat and fires and gave his answer: "Bah!" Shinji then pulled out his small belt pistol, which was god for only three shots, and with all his strength opened fire! Two bullets whizzed into Kernner's chest, the intense pain severing the link between master and puppet, dousing the flames that kept him suspended. Hitting the ground with a bone-shattering thud, Kernner slowly rose up, obviously not under HIS own power any longer. His eyes till empowered by demonic rage. Shinji smiled to himself as he ran back to the truck, avoiding a hail of gunfire from the overly LATE germen re-enforcements from the southern end of the base. With both feet on the gas the rejuvenated 34th brigade hauled ass along the road. Kernner stood upright, his face emotionless as he pointed towards the direction of the trucks. In ten seconds time, three motorcycles bound solders whizzed past their ranking officer, the speed of their bikes whipping up Kernner's hair into the sky. Time then seemed to slow down, the sun ever slowly diving past the last inch of horizon. "I accept your offer, Ikari. I have another who will wield my blade." Kernner said, his voice small and quiet, as if reassuring himself his plans would work…but even the devil had doubts when dealing with the emotion of the War God.  
  
Michael and his fellow angels stood in the Hall of Zion, its shimmering pearl pillars inlayed with ivory gleaming in their usual radiance. The angels were all assembled in full battle armor, their wings of yellow fire folded in at rest while they awaited their Lords message. Michael twirled his sword as God, ascended into the room, his brilliant and indescribable power shimmering like something brighter than light yet it emitted a sense of fullness and joy. As he seated himself among his servants, the Lord spoke his will in a voice that was like a non-verbal command, a sheer projection of will amongst he minds of the angles. The lesser angles cleared a circle in the massive hall and its center suddenly became filled by a portal, a dimensional window, which seemed to lead into great expanse of nothing. The, a powerful Arc Angel, came to the front and reached into the void, his hand seemly coated in a foul and putrid power as it came out holding a length of chain. With all his power the angel pulled and pulled until from the expanse came a figure, his body coated with the physicalized slime of his own sheer hate and lust, his form wrapped in a length of silver chain. The figures hair was platinum, his eyes as blue as the skies of eternity, his skin alabaster smooth and just as flawless. The figures voice whom as he spoke, rang out like a thousand trumpets and a million more pipes of joyous song. Truly, this was the most beautiful of the angels, Lucifer. It was then, in the light of God, Lucifer seemed to be cold and afraid, his power and darkness manifested on earth shrinking away…except for his tongues hate. "SPITE THE, OH MASTER!" came the cries of the broken dove, his body recoiling in a sate of caution, as if waiting to strike.  
  
"Lucifer, fallen one and leader of the lesser servants, what is your involvement in the realm of men! State thy intentions of them before me now!" Gods voice hit Satan like a hurricane, as he could not deny the commands of Jehovah himself.  
  
"I collaborate and conspire with the aide of mortal men who seek my power. They asked for it and I have willingly provided it. You have no claim to anger on me!"  
  
"SILENCE!" Satan then coward in fear once more, his bravery shattered.  
  
"You fully know the consequences of your doings as of late and must surely realize it dose you no speed in MY downfall, but rather, your own. Through the use of EVA man has achieved something I wished it to once have: a level of one and understanding with my own. YOU however, foul serpent, have twisted its sue to be that of damnation and possession! Through the teaching of my beloved son and the use of the EVA, man almost achieved the perfection YOU sought to deny them through manipulation of their free will. I may have been wrong to allow the EVA's evolution to come so far. Dose any here see why it should remain, why the world should not be remade WITHOUT Evangelion influence?" As the message circulated among the angels Michael stepped foreword and eventually came to be next to the chained and cowering form of the devil. "Oh great Lord. I have seen these men and women interact with the EVA's in your name, when this foul scourge tried to overthrow your power. The men did well and continue to do so. Please sir, allow them to fulfill their mission and rid the universe of the fallen ones still loose and lingering darkness, which has infested physical forms in the other world. This, as your Arc Angel, do I wish and beg," Their was silence for a long time until finally the lord delivered his response.  
  
"HEAR ME, HOLY AND FALLEN ANGEL ALIKE! KNOW NOT THAT SATAN'S PLAN TO MANIFEST HIS MALIGNAT NATURE WITHIN THE BODY OF MORTAS HAS NOT GONEUNSEEN, NOR THE COURAGE OF THE EVA PILOTS. AS THEIR SUPORTER, YOU MICHAEL WILL JOIN THEM AS THEY PREPAIRE TO FACE THE COMING DAYS OF DARKNESS. THEN WILL THEIR POWER BE TESTED. AS FOR YOU SATAN, YOUR PHYSICAL FORM WILL REMIANIN THE PIT UNTIL THE DAY OF THE UNCHAINING AND REST ASSURED WE WILL STOP THAT FOUL APPARITION OF YOURSELF YOU LOOSED UPON THE PAST AND ONCE FOUND, YOU AND IT WILL BE PUNISHED." Satan cringed as he got up onto his feet, the weight of the chain fully on him now, his wings of red hellfire outstretched and his eyes ablaze. "It is thee oh God whom should be weary! While my physical form is here true, my dark powers roam and stalk your "savior" and WILL undo their pathetic attempts to stop me. The EVA and your generosity towards them will be your undoing and my resurrection!" With a mere blink of his eye Gods sent a shockwave throughout the congregation that sent Satan huddling backward and back into the blackness of the pit, his howls of laughter echoing even after the vortex closed.  
  
  
  
Shinji aimed his riffle along the end of the truck bed while Yui continued to drive along the broken and dirtied roads. One motorcyclist, driving a BMW R75, complete with the annoying side car, raced up and its passengers pulled out a long range riffle, firing off a few shots than bounced off harmlessly…but one came dangerously close to Rei's face as she felt the hot whiz graze her senses. Shinji pulled out a potatoe masher and pulled the pin, waiting a few seconds, and threw withal his might. The grenade just so happened to land completely in the lap of the sidecar passenger who didn't even have enough time to piss his pants before the explosion tore the metal cycle apart like tissue paper. Unfortunately the second cycle raced up in its sisters stead and the passenger began to aim his PANZERFAST!! Shinji's eyes widened as the missile streaked out of the barrel and sped towards its target!!  
  
  
  
Michael stepped foreword before the Lords throne, his wings opened fully to show their rainbow of luminous colors. "Are you ready to assume the role of heavenly protectorate to the EVA pilots and their families against the powers Lucifer has unleashed? Is this truly a task you think mortal men capable of handling , not alone, but with direct assistance?"  
  
"My Lord the men face an unfair advantage since Lucifer's influence is allowing the germens to revive deceased men, construct a dark EVA and even possess the mind of a fellow pilots. I MUST go to their aide and as soon as possible."  
  
"Very well. I know exactly where and when to send you. May my blessings go with you." As Gods words finished the room became enveloped in a brilliant light as Michel's form became luminous energy that dissipated instantly.  
  
  
  
Shinji and the other squinted in terror as the missile neared its deadly conclusion, a.k.a, their deaths! Suddenly a brilliant light appeared behind the truck as a figure blasted both the missile and the motorcycle in a blinding burst of raw ki power. Yui hated the truck, shocked to the extent where she had to take her foot off the gas, and everybody then looked to see WHAT had happened and why they weren't dead! As the smoke of the explosion cleared their stood a glowing figure, is body clad in Holy War Armor and a mighty blade in his hands, wings once more opened wide to express his power.  
  
"Michael? Is…is that you!?" Shouted Rei, her ruby eyes glowing with tears as he raced up and hugged her angelic comrade whom she had not seen since the battle at the Lance of Longinus. Michael smiled and saw the band of warriors who would soon face an enemy as powerful as the sum of their fears, an enemy who would never give up and who wielded an army of horrific powers. But here, among these young peoples was the hope and love that would fuel the machine of light along its rickety course called time. This was Force 34 from Tokyo 3, last hope for mankind and soon to be the re0weilders of Evangelions, the all-purpose humanoid weapon.  
  
  
  
Aki awoke from her sleep in a drenched cold sweet, her eyes wide in terror. "My God. They've sent an Arc Angel!" Aki raced out of her room, which resided on Bromines highest level and dashed into the laboratories of Carmine, apparently still hard at work all through the night. Before Aki could even open her moth she saw Manstein in the room as well, a gun in his hand and official papers from Himmler in his arms.  
  
"Good Dr, did I not warn you about taking foolish and unnecessary actions? Now Himmler wants me to personally bring you to Germany for a hearing as to your conduct in this place and its funding, developments and why you lied to the Reich about prisoners of war. I hope you feel happy Aki, the wermacht is now in charge.  
  
"You don't understand! I have something that will guarantee success in the Russian theater but it must be used NOW, before time runs out. The enemy is coming here soon and now has the power to destroy this place! Allow me one last assignment, free of wermacht control! I guarantee you the results will be more than satisfactory!!"  
  
"What could you possible have in this ruin besides zombified corpses that would impress the Furher and stay his hand at your execution." Aki smiled as she answered back:  
  
"How about a humanoid battle weapon with the capacity to annihilate a small city…and bring about the end of the world." Manstein sighed as he put down his gun, agreeing to listen.  
  
  
  
Tyr sat in his small, cramped dungeon-like room, awaiting release from his tortured surroundings in spirit, but more than able to withstand any physical barrages or assaults…all except when a man in a scientist uniform entered and threw an entry plug suite in front of him, shouting the words "Put this on." Somewhere in Tyr's soul he cried. At long last he could confront his demons…and possibly get revenge in the process.  
  
  
  
AUTHORS NOTES: Well folks you wanted it so here it is, alive and kicking! Aki is till a bitch, Satan is cocky shit and the 34th is still kicking undead ass! With MUCH more to come I look foreword to enthralling you with even more exciting chapters. 


	11. Chapter 9: Prey

Chapter 9: Prey  
  
Rei clenched her head between her legs, trying to muffle the sounds of screaming as she covered her arms over her neck. Rei looked up and in the distance saw the factory ablaze in great tongues of fire that seemed to reach out and mock the stars. Rei, now a good three miles away, sat inside the empty hollow of an old library, her mind attuned to everything around her, her body frozen completely stiff. CRACK. A noise startled Rei and she immediately recognized it as breaking glass…glass under the weight of feet! Rei rushed up and raced deeper into the darkened library, the scent of old paper and decay permeating their air. Rei found an old bookshelf and cowered behind it, her body cold and shivering in the bitter surroundings. CRUNCH. Rei heard the sound again and immediately pulled herself down to the floor, crouching under the bookshelf as a massive figure in black, a new model sniper riffle in his arms: Jens, the undead and possibly un- killable soldier of the wermacht in service to Aki. Jens stopped in his motions, his eyes closing as he smelled the air, its scent filling his lungs. From the battered and decimated side of the building a thick cloud of smoke rolled in, the aftereffects t of an exploding grenade, probably thrown by a frightened soldier. Rei felt the hot smoke snake into the room as the lights flickered on and off, all the while the massive figure looming in the distance…searching. Rei gritted her teeth, her hands tight on her side arm and her eyes watering with both fright and anger. She was alone now and had to make it back to base alive…one way or another. Rei shot up through the smoke, her eyes narrowed with determination and she kicked over the bookcase she was hiding behind a few seconds earlier. Jens looked up and felt a rush of pain as the massive wooden object tackled him and bashed a serious wound into his skull. Rei, standing over the pinned down sniper, put the gun a few degrees away from his temple, all the while his face shining with a look of bitter rage through the smoke and flickering lights.  
  
"So Rei. It would seem you have me just where you want me." Jens said, his tone spiteful and malignant, Rei swept aside some tears as he became ever more angrier.  
  
"You undead abomination, tell me where Aki has taken Yui and the others!" Jens only laughed harder.  
  
"You really HAVE lost it haven't you. I am not saying anything little lady and I don't think theirs anything you can do to me that will make me talk." Reis head flooded with haunting visions as the room began to spin around her, her body becoming weak and faint…but not faint enough to pull the trigger on her gun. A bullet seared its way through Jens'es upper portion of his skull, yet it still did not stop his laughing. Rei fell from the toppled shelf and in a dazed fright, saw Jens begin to push up and force it off of him. Rei raced out of the decayed library, her mind clouded as to where she was or WHY she was there. The sky was as night with smoke and clouds, the city in a ruin incomparable to anything but a massive explosion. The streets were black with ash and debris, the cars and tanks all rusted and aflame. Rei had awoken in hell when moments before she had been in a truck with the rest of her 34th brethren and their new partner, Michael the Arc Angel. Something had happened and she was now here, alone and apparently pursued by Aki's forces. Rei flapped her duster jacket and checked to see if she had her riffle: she did. Rei, realizing the hulking demon Jens could come around the corner any second, decided to race off and try to discover where she was.  
  
  
  
Rei's mind swam with bizarre sensations as she tried to pick up the last few images before she awoke in the fields next to the burning factory. Rei remembered meeting Helen and Michael, that much had been imprinted into her brain already. But as for afterwards Rei knew they had been going to establish a new base outside of Stalingrad, one to accommodate the Russian soldiers who were going to re-take the city. Rei then seemed to recall a village they would make camp in, a settlement….Rei could not grasp what she had just realized. Could this burnt out and decimated little village be where the 34th drove into? Had they driven into a bomb blast and become separated? Rei didn't have time to shake off the images of doom she had began to retell because only a few feet away were three cloaked ABELS, their gristled and gnawed faces coated by long black body capes and hoods. Rei had been sighted. The ABEL's threw off their cloaks to reveal bodies new to the ABEL design. Unlike most revived soldier who were given uniforms and standard weapons, these creatures were garbed in tight fitting suites that heightened muscle structure and seemed to bend the muscles tightly in the fabric. On these gruesome creatures hands were massive gauntlets that were adorned with finger sockets, which bore long metal talons. In a heartbeat the three, now semi-cloaked figures rushed towards her. Rei immediately pulled back her riffle and shot of one head on shot that knocked one bestial monster down. The other two however seemed to then reveal what their suites did. It enhanced muscle functions. With a bend of their tightly coiled leg muscles the revived men leapt several feet into the air and with their metal clawed hands, clenched hold of the very brick walls! Rei, startled for a moment, regained her definition of reality and shot of a few more shots with her pistol, now running this time towards a large store. Rei smashed open the locked door and raced inside, right as the ABEL's bounded the corner to pursue her. Rei held her breath as she could hear the twisted breathing of the creatures, their clicking claws gripping the walls as they scurried along. Suddenly one burst through the archway, its back against Rei as it seemed to have been attempting a sneak assault: it got a shout gun blast in the head as a reply. Rei looked over to see an elderly man in his fifties, clenching as smoking shotgun, his breath having felt him. Rei rushed over to the man who collapsed on his feet, his eyes weakened and heavy.  
  
"SIR! Are you alright?" Rei said, her tone serious yet monotone at the same time. The old man began to speak in Russian, which Rei only slightly understood.  
  
"The monster arose and brought death with it! We could not stop it…the militia was destroyed in s few minutes. The wermacht came in…now the citizens are disappearing. Your group tried to fight but…" The old mans eyes slid shut and Rei looked into them still, hoping for more answers to her now expounded questions. A monster? The 34th fighting? Rei was now confused and the more she thought about it the more her head ached and throbbed. Wherever she was, not only was she alone, but also she was obviously hunted.  
  
  
  
Damien's boots crunched on the gravel beneath his feet as he looked over the blackened city from atop the semi burning factory which held a lofty view. At his side were two other persons, their figures equally monstrous. One, the revived Japanese samurai Heyates, stood at attention and clenched his katana. The second was Jens, having returned from duty in the city below…and having failed. The third however was a new face to Damien as far as Aki's monsters went. This one was seemed to have no mutations nor scars at all. This creature seemed to be dressed in a black outfit but not a military one like an SS but the fabric and press was not civilian. His face was quite beautiful to look at and his eyes were different shades. One eye, the left, was as green as neon jade, while the other was gray as death clouds.  
  
"You their, newbie. Why did Aki send you here. I don't recall ever hearing what your specialty is in all this mess." The figure smiled as he laughed a small bit, pleased to see a look of anger on Damien's face.  
  
"To be quick my friend, I am here to make sure my designated target doesn't slip away."  
  
"And whom would YOUR target be, mystery man." Said Jens  
  
"Pilot Shoryu. She is not to leave this place alive." The figure said. Damien scoffed as he snapped back his little comment: "The children are all scattered through this wasteland and the new ABELS are hard at work KEEPING them separated. Should they all find one another I am sure they wouldn't be anything we would be beyond handling.  
  
"I am not so sure that a wise option" said Heyates, his voice distant and concerned. "When ever we try to apprehend one of these "children" they always emit a darker nature, one they excels their current natures dark side a hundred fold."  
  
"Could it be the second nature of their EVA units trying to come through like with Tyr?" said Jens.  
  
"THIS IS ALL NONSENSE! The theories of secondary EVA-inspired personalities are all foolishness! Shinji got pissed off over the "death" of that bitch, rei was concerned with protecting the other team members and as for that freak Tyr, his actions here levae me to believe his dark-nature is something he will keep with him forever."  
  
"Hmmm. Yes, Tyr's success here was quite unexpected as was the ease to separate the children. But, should they manage to find one another out little scheme will come under MY command" a voice said. The assembled group looked over to see Manstein and Kenner, their presences both casting a look of fear and power. "Should the children all re-assemble here and piece together what happened than I am prepared to do what is necessary to make sure they don't leave alive."  
  
"But sir, what if…it…can't be controlled like before. Something of such power isn't a thing you try and use more then once sir." Said Heyates.  
  
"I can see how you would believe it to be overkill but without there EVA's to fight in they're as good as dead…UNLESS YOU DOLTS DON'T GET YOUR JOBS DONE! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, KILL THEM!" In a scurry of action the figures raced off. Damien grabbed Jens on the shoulder and nodded to which Jens responded with a nod of his own, acknowledging a secret, unsaid agreement.  
  
  
  
Rei continued to walk along the broken streets, her mind still not focused on what it was he was really looking for: a sign? Shinji? Asuka? Whatever she was looking for she wished it would show up soon. Suddenly, from inside a building, Rei heard a moan of pain that was all too familiar: SHINJI! Reaching inside Rei saw Shinji lying on a makeshift bed, surrounded by other people, apparently villagers. They all looked over at Rei, her face red with shyness as she realized he had just burst in on a prayer group, their minds attuned to healing Shinji through praying. Shinji them moaned, his body rising up as he opened his yes. "REI!" he shouted. Rei smiled a bit and went to his bedside, his face bandaged up a bit on his head and shoulder.  
  
"Shinji what happened here. I seem to have no recollection of what happened after we left the LAZARUS camp with Helen and Michael."  
  
"We got here, this place called Tinya. We were going to make camp but as we drove up we saw Isafriel, the third angel, standing smack damn in the center of the village!! You can imagine Yui and Michael's surprise when we then see a massive EVA bound the mountain range and fight it! This EVA was huge and green, like Tyr's old EVA the Fenrir…but it was evil Rei, it was evil. The EVA and Isafriel fought with all their power…and the EVA won. However, the EVA tore out the S2 heart of the angel and seemed to…absorb it. When it did the energy released destroyed everything and almost everybody. Asuka is making her scouting errands to try and find the others…she should be back soon…I am glad to see your alright Rei."  
  
"The wermacht is here…and so is Aki. I fought some new model ABEL soldiers outside and it would seem Jens is here as well…Heyates and Kenner might not be too far behind. I will go and look for Asuka, you stay here." Shinji laughed, although it seemed to cause him pain.  
  
"I…am thankful. Please, make sure she is safe."  
  
"Personally I think Asuka will be find. I simply want to see if I can get to her before Jens dose…or Heyates." Rei exited the building as the Russian villagers resumed their silent vigil.  
  
  
  
Asuka's mind was like a steel trap, her vision enhanced due to the lack of sleep and her finger on the trigger of her twin side arms. Whatever this ghost town could throw at her, she would be more than willing to put to rest. The last 24 hours had been seriously demanding on her mind, as well as her body. Asuka THOUGHT she would be going to a simple little village for refueling but found out she would me having a temporary pit stop in the Abyss itself. Seeing the massive angel, one she never encountered herself, doing battle with another EVA she didn't recognize took a lot of guts and then she awoke in a burn tout hovel of a place that seemed to be either dead or dieing. As she continued to encircle the perimeter of Shinji's 'hospital, she noticed four odd shadows scaling the walls around her. Asuka froze, her mind as a diamond and her senses tingling with anticipation. Suddenly, out of the shadows, a metal clawed ABEL tackled her, its hand forcing her face into the gravely cement road that was once a street. Asuka roared in anger as she saw a figure approach her, his features plain, unlike most of Aki's scared and tattered minions.  
  
"So we meet at long last pilot Shoryu." The figure said, offering a slight bow. The ABEL relinquished its grip and leapt off Asuka as she got up onto her feet, now eye level with her confronter, his body not truly visible except his head which had a odd look about it, as id it were out of place. The person glanced over to the ABELS who immediately dashed off in various directions, almost on command. Then the figure smiled, Asuka looking ever more pissed off.  
  
"Listen dumkoff, I don't know why you called them off but you had better call them back! Your going to need all the help you can get!"  
  
"To fight you? Oh spare me. Without your EVA's your weak and defenseless against my utter killing PERFECTION!" With a bestial roar that sounded not man nor animal the figures arms erupted from his long cloak as did his legs. In a guttural scream the persons spine then expanded to support his spurt in size. The figure's face was how skull-like, a twisted apparition of its former facade. Now almost nine feet tall and supporting a skeletal figure that seemed to be a thin as a normal mans arm, the massive creature echoed in laughter. "YOU SEE! My power comes from my use of compressive and expansive muscles! I can extend to almost three times the size of a normal person and can sustain MUCH more damage. You will not leave this place alive!"  
  
"So those ABELS ate like smaller versions of yourself, like our smaller cones."  
  
"You could say that. My muscle structure and talons DO seem similar but believe me, I am much more lethal." Asuka smiled, as she looked straight up into the beasts eyes, a smirk on her lips.  
  
"All you ever do is TALK!" screamed Asuka as she raced up and jumped onto the creature's arms, her wiry body allowing her to scale up until she had her foot on his shoulder. Till in awe at the girls speed and agility the creature tried to shake her off: it didn't work. Asuka fired off multiple rounds into the monsters face, a scream of pain emanating as the demon leaked a large amount of red and black blood from its wounds. However the creature did manage to get one good punch in, throwing Asuka off its frame- like body as if she were a rage doll. In a seemingly painful grunt the monster compressed itself back to its normal size, now beneath a tattered cloak and his face bloodied. Asuka staggered up as he rushed her, his fist hitting her stomach hard and knocking her back down. However when she looked, she could see his arm had extended QUITE far yet her was a good five feet away. As the demons grip with its vice-like claws tightened, Asuka could feel her energy slipping away. JUST THEN a bullet barrage tore the creatures arm to bloody ribbons, Asuka breaking away from the severed arms embrace. Reeling in blood and pain the demon recoiled its arm, or what was left of it, and looked over to see a tall woman, her long brown hair whipped up by a hot wind. Yui. The creature hissed a viper-like howl and scattered back into the shadows. Just then Rei raced around the north steer, her riffle ready having heard the shouts of action. Everyone was happy to see everybody else…yet they were all confused.  
  
  
  
  
  
Shinji sat in his bed, his body sore with pain as he wondered where his Russian caretakers had gone off to. As he looked up however he saw a face of a different kind, one not living but deceased: Heyates. With a powerful slam of his elbow, the undead ronin shattered Shinji's makeshift bed and now had Shinji on the floor, reeling in pain. Shinji sneered in rage as he looked up, his vision blurred and disoriented. Heyates smiled as he drew his blade, preparing to strike. Suddenly he felt the cold metal of a gun barrel against his neck, Glancing over he saw a fiery haired woman, her blue eyes on fire: ASUKA.  
  
"I do believe you're the one I owe this too!" she said as she pulled the trigger, blowing out Heyates's face. As the body hit the floor Shinji pulled himself up and threw Asuka out of harms way as an ABEL burst through the window, its claws striking where Asuka has just been. A quick burst of machine gun fire soon ended his little "surprise" however. As the smoke cleared and everyone was up on their feet Shinji and Asuka embraced one another, Yui hugging everyone.  
  
"Would somebody like to explain how I wound up alone in a broken down bus station?" said Yui, her voice hinting at a very rough few hours, much like everyone else.  
  
"I remember the fight between Isafriel and that weird EVA, then a big explosion. I suppose the enemy found us and decided to separate us so we could be picked off easier" said Asuka.  
  
"But what of the Angel and the EVA. I had a notion that our presence here could re-awaken the angles of this time but how an EVA could possibly exist is beyond me" Shinji said, his head still in pain.  
  
"Aki most likely revived her 08 unit with arcane science and is summoning up the angel…to absorb their S2 engines! Since she has the Lance of Longinus with her, where ever it is she is based out off, that that could mean she is trying to generate a megalithic amount of power by having the 08 gather its energy from Angel cores."  
  
"You mean like storing energy for some massive build up, and then us then using the Lance to channel it?"  
  
"Yes. Remember how when the angels fought eh Beast at the Lance and then when we all re0directed our AT-Fields and channeled its power upwards? That explosion of energy must have been what ripped a hole in time, with the Lance acting like the knife. Aki is trying to do a repeat process!" Yui concluded, her tone now somber and detached.  
  
"So that means she must be close by! Its still night and the EVA battle took place at dusk. I doubt they can focus all their energies on attacking us and moving the EVA. If we hurry we could still catch up with them!" said Asuka. Everyone seemed to agree: they would shift the situation from defensive to offensive  
  
  
  
The GILGAMESH sat, deactivated and alone. Tyr smiled to himself as he thought about how much power he had when he wielded the EVA once again, like in the old days. He had re-tasted the power EVA offered him…and was thirsty for more. Soon the time would come to unveil his plan to Yui for they would most certainly he on their way to find out why an EVA and an Angel were here in WW2 Russia. Tyr would reveal everything then, an only then. Until that moment he would continue to be Aki's pet servant, a minion to evil….but only as long as it suited his purposes. He would indeed give Aki only enough rope to hang herself with…and nothing more. As for Michael and Helen, Tyr could only hope they were alright as they were both inside Aki's private torture chamber, a lab nestled deep below the burnt out factory where the 08 was currently stored. Tyr laughed at how he had gone from villain to hero to villain and was about to become a hero once more. Hopefully somebody would grasp the fullness of his plan and not kill him first.  
  
  
  
Aki sat, alone in the darkness of her room, allowing the cold and silence to seep into her being: the time had come to face Yui and she would not dare to disappoint….  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Allrighty kiddies, its almost time for the big showdown! Finally everyone will be in one place for one fight that I promise you will not disappoint!! Get ready cause the next chapter is going to be the mid- way point for the story and I don't want to leave anybody upset: it's going to be seriously BIG!! ALSO. If you'd like, I have room in the story for one of the following persons to be killed off: SUBMIT NOW TO SEE, WHICH ONE WILL BITE THE BULLET…OR GRENADE…OR GET DECAPIATED…  
  
CHOICES ARE:  
  
*Kernner  
  
*Heyates  
  
*Jens 


	12. Chapter 10: Believe

Chapter 10: Believe  
  
The 34th, what was left of it, had assembled beneath the cover of a toppled over billboard, trying to avoid the red and malignant eyes of the vagabond-like ABEL soldiers who were perched atop various buildings, their vision scanning the city-scape below like ever watchful vultures. The sky, now breaking into dawn, was till covered by thick dust and smoke that seemed to withstand even the mighty blast of the suns morning rays, casting a dour and gloom-like aura over the land. How bizarre, in Shinji's mind, that he and his family, his friends, would fight so hard and for so long only to have driven into the middle of an enemy battle and as a result, were now missing two members and they were going to face an enemy in full readiness for ANYTHING they could muster…except a full on charge.  
  
  
  
Although the powerfully mutated Reich, with all its armies of genetically and spiritually twisted soldiers, were prone being quite stupid and the powerful "Hunter" Generals were not quite as invincible as they would believe…not a one of them had truly WON a battle in open combat. What few weapons the crew could muster was a small assembly of small arms and riffles gathered up from the townspeople including some stolen germen weaponry. Shinji looked out across the gray city and could see the faint shadow of soldiers movements, their tactics seemingly that a encircle method. Shinji didn't care actually: the sooner they attacked, the sooner he could move in and destroy Aki…once and for all, along with the rest of her abominations. Rei re-loaded the last of her free clips and put the rest on a makeshift bandoleer while her grenade supply hung on her dusters inside pocket- not a safe place but easily accessible. Shinji's eyes looked Rei over, her hair having grown out to semi shoulder length, her red eyes aglow in the dim light. Rei, once the solitary secret of his father's dark visions, was now his closest friend and confidant, a true warrior who had seen evil upfront and did not flinch. Asuka. If anybody had told Shinji he would one day be madly in love with the red-haired fire-pistol from Germany Shinji would have passed him or her off as a total loon. But now, here he was, deeply in love with a woman who had defied death on several accounts to remain with him. Shinji smiled as he saw Asuka return his gaze with a warm smile…as she reloaded her .45's. Yui returned from her surveillance of the surroundings, her tone expressing an already known fear. "The body of Heyates is gone. The ABEL's must have come in and took it while we set up. Its no big surprise really." Everyone nodded in silent anger and agreement, their minds then turning to see a large assembly of ABELS on the horizon, their bodies tensed for a battle…one they wouldn't soon forget.  
  
  
  
Shinji smiled at the girls as he pressed his back to the silent truck, his fingers tensed over the trigger of his MASUER, his eyes riveting with his pulse. Time slowed down, the air moving like sand through ones fingers as Shinji scoped his various targets. As they spiraled off to escape vertically along the walls, Shinji's sights found their mark twice, the impact of the bullets blowing their victims down and onto the gravel street, their bodies overflowing with blood and convulsing in pain: even zombies could suffer. Their were still five more, now scuttling across the walls and leaping around like clawed cockroaches, their voices now arcane howls and screams. Rei pulled her sniper riffle to her eyes, her mental focus increasing as she managed to pop one unlucky ABEL in the eye, the bullet streaking outward and hitting the wall with a hot hiss. The now eyeless monster, screeching in pain, looked up, the blood gushing outward in small bursts. Reeling in a powerful rage, the one-eyed ABEL pulled back with all its might and leapt into the skies. Its claws stretched outward as it readied for a kamikaze dive straight through Rei's chest cavity. The massive twin blasts of Yui and Asuka's shotguns sent its corpse reeling backward, a spray of blood streaking the air.  
  
  
  
Re-loading, the 34th raced across from the cover of their billboard and darted to the large convoy truck only twenty feet away. Shinji was about reach the ten-foot mark when a single ABEL bounded off a wall and streaked in front of his path. Shinji froze. The ABEL was covered in a long black coat, its leather draped over the slinking figure of the twisted monster, its face a torn and burnt off mess of flesh, a gruesome visage-like smile. Shinji gritted his teeth as with a pull of the trigger, his riffle erased the ABEL's head clean off its tattered neck. Shinji continued to race to the truck as he saw two ABELS clattering in pursuit of Yui. Rei, sensing this too, reached in for a grenade ad with a flick of her wrist, blew the support walls the demons clung too clean off, burying them in a mountain of rubble and bloodied bricks. Yui entered the truck, her fingers pulling the ignition too as quickly as possible. One ABEL left. Yui revved the truck up and careened down the broken road as the last ABEL, with all its mutated power, leapt into the sky and tackled the back of the truck, its metal claw dug deep into the bed-panel. Asuka pulled herself up to the ABEL, his one arm clinging on for dear life above a road passing 50 miles per hour beneath him. Asuka pulled one of her last grenades and pulled the pin, throwing it straight into the creature's jacket. The ABEL looked in horror at the active grenade and then in sheer shock as Asuka's blew off the monsters wrist with her shotgun, its claws still clenched in the truck. The ABEL hit the ground hard and it rolled along in a painful crash…then it blew apart in a red explosion.  
  
  
  
Now en-route to the burnt out factory where many vehicles were heading, the 34th was fully prepared for an all out fight to the death. Inside they knew they would be facing hordes of the revived, Hunters, and even the dark talents of Aki herself…or worse. Whatever the case, everyone was geared up and ready to go. The air seemed to carry with it a gentleness as the truck raced along the empty street of the virtual ghost town, nothing being said by any of the pilots or even Yui. They didn't want to spoil the silence, the peace of the stillness around them. Shinji moved next to Asuka, taking her hand into his, Asuka resting her head on his shoulder. Rei smiled a bit and looked over at Yui, who seemed to smile in silent agreement.  
  
  
  
Michael awoke from his massive headache to see the bright lights of an overhead lamp burning into his eyes, a shout emanating outward into the darkness of the room. With all his power Michael surged and found himself bound to a flat metal table, his arms embraced by heavy metal bonds. Michael was now very confused to see his great powers of strength were useless against the flimsily metal shackles. Again, Michael surged to gain freedom and yet again, his arms ached. Michael then found his armor was gone, his body now covered by tattered prisoner clothes.  
  
"It is good to see you are awake my friend" a voice said from beyond the reach of Michael's vision.  
  
"Who is there!" Michael demanded, his neck straining to look around, yet revealing nothing. The voice was closer now, its tone cold and void, like something from the bottom of a great pit.  
  
"Michael, do not be afraid. We were once brothers, you and I. Now I will offer you the choice to serve me against your precious "Lord". To take up the place I had prepared for you at the beginning of time. Michael, come with me and you can be released. Become my Shadow Angel, my angel of death." Michael sneered in disgust as is captors identity became all too obvious.  
  
"Lucifer! You really think you can possibly succeed in this futile quest? You are delusional and are going against the Great Plan set forth before we were ever created. Turn back from this suicide mission Lucifer, NOW!" the voice was one hateful, riveting with a reverberation of spit and cruelty, a deep hatred for all things.  
  
"YOU FOOL! I FINALLY HAVE SEIZED THE MEANS TO OVERTHROW THE GREAT GOD AND YOU STILL WILL CALL ME A FOOL?"  
  
"Your quest to harness the tainted-ones cores, their sources of divine power, will lead to your downfall. When the angels arise, so too must the EVA and with them, your downfall will be heralded in! You summoned your own death when you killed Isafriel."  
  
"The Sleepers are all sheep to be harvested by my power as I see fit. There is no technology outside of MY agents who can restore power to the EVA's, and without pilots, they are useless. I hold the first of the cores, the only EVA, The Lance, and now a pilot who bears my mark. What do you have that can stop all my power?"  
  
"Force 34. They have come across time to destroy you and they will succeed. You may doubt the power of those young men and women but inside them is a force that has defeated you once before…at the Lance. You remember that day and it stays your hand even now. You remember how Shinji and Tyr's combined will-power shattered your vast abyss of death and destroyed all hopes you held in that time-line."  
  
"Oh yes, indeed they did shatter my manifested power! They shattered it SO well it created a rift against the Lance that sent myself and my agents HERE, giving us a ripe opportunity to seize all the power we wish and accomplish our agendas…safely." Michael sighed in pain as he realized his old foe had a good point. So far, he seemed to have all the cards and their was little anybody could do…for now.  
  
"Where is Helen?"  
  
"You mean my FORMER agent? She is with my apprentice at the moment, undergoing special…treatment. You should really be more worried about yourself however. An angel without a purpose will soon find his core easy prey for those with the will-power to TAKE IT!" Suddenly a cold hand of air swept over Michaels chest, its muscles swelling with a great blue and red light, its energy emitting streaks of lightning. Michael let out a mighty scream as the powerful energy gripped his very soul and took it from him. Michael, highest Arc-Angel in Zion, then felt a cold rush over him for he was without a soul.  
  
  
  
The factory was a graveyard of bodies, tanks, weaponry and all sorts of machinery. Whatever had walked here, it didn't seem to face much opposition…at all. The factory, once a massive plant for military arms, seemed to be like a ghost town with only empty walls, ruined windows and ghosts as tenants. But behind and below this ruined shell, evils stirred, its spawned and it multiplied like a great cancer…a cancer Shinji interned to cut out personally. After getting out of the truck, Shinji saw three ABELS scuttle out behind a broken window, avoiding the suns light. Shinji tensed up as he and Rei walked up to the bashed open loading gate, once meant for massive trucks to come in and out…now the very mouth of hell. Inside, there was the buzzing of machinery and gears…yet no workers: only silence. Yui and Asuka closed in from behind and that when it happened, once everyone was inside. From the ceilings shadows dropped a team of ABELS, their clawed hands adorned with EXTRA long claws, their faces covered by decorative porcelain masks wit a red triangle upon them…Aki's idea of a sick joke. Asuka threw the first punch, her fist cracking the plate of one soldier, and the impact sending him flying onto the ground with a loud thud. The creature just got back up and if anybody could have seen his mouth, they knew he would be smiling. With three massive foreword swipes the demon lunged, his clawed fingers reaching out to draw blood. Asuka dodged moderately well and had enough footing to counter with another punch, this one pushing the soldier down so his head smacked the pavement square: knocked out cold with a spasm of blood from the mouth…but it would not be forever. Shinji and Rei body slammed two ABELS against a conveyor belt, the pressing force of the impact against the demon's spinal cords temporary paralyzing them with sheer shock to the nerves. Yui pulled her semi-machine gun out, the cue for everyone to DROP! As they did a hot shower of bullets hit the few soldiers stupid enough to be standing, dropping them in a massive spry of blood and flesh. But that wasn't the end. One smart monster HAD ducked and in his rebound to get up, he gave Rei a powerful uppercut lunge as he gripped the north wall. HOWEVER, much to his horror, the ABEL felt something hit his side: there, on his right shoulder, was a small grenade encased in a C4-Glue based compound. In a brilliant explosion the creature hit the opposite wall and nearly shattered to pieces. With no other visible enemies in sight the 34th saw their destination: a freight elevator. With watchful eyes, the small party of determined young warriors got onto the elevator, their hearts racing, not from fear, but excitement.  
  
  
  
Masntein, Damien, Kernner, Carmine and Heyates all sat inside the massive "storage room" for the sleeping GILGAMESH, the crew of possessed and deranged workers readying it for action. Masntein smiled as he looked over the weapon, his key to power in a world where stupidity seemed to be the rule of nature. Power was no longer something one could obtain through brilliant action, rather, it had been twisted into a fashionable accessory that men like Hitler graced other stupid people with on a whim while TRUE men and women, true soldier were slaughtered in their name. Manstein, the powerful benefactor to Dr. carmine and Dr. Aki, was going to make the world see that power went to the strong…at the cost of the weak. Kernner and Damien watched Manstein from afar, the sound of the freight elevator being heard in the distance…along with gun fire.  
  
"It would seem our guests have arrives" said Kernner. Heyates smiled as he took hold of his katana and went off to face his destiny…alone. Carmine smiled as he pondered how his actions would shape history. Heyates was a good example of the perfect warrior in may ways, and then again not in others. He was determined to a fault, he was loyal, he never asked questions and given his unique "physiology" he would never stop his mission. HOWEVER he was also prone to fighting for hopeless causes like honor and duty, those things caused him to awaken and pursue the "Ikari" demon and thus, he was thrice defeated. Carmine knew a fourth time would be out of the question…he would either succeed or he would not be revived, Such failures were not to be tolerated. The same was true with Jens, although powerful and very unique in the way of being a soldier, he had not succeeded in killing or capturing Rei. He was like a beautiful, but flawed, diamond. Carmine knew however that revived flesh, powerful guns and a killer instinct did not a powerful warrior race make. He knew what was required for his ultimate plan…and she would be with him soon. Damien simply looked out at the great GILGAMESH and smiled. He would prove HE was the greatest pilot, that Tyr was HIS second. He would then have Rei for himself, his angelic queen to a demonic king. Aki may not see his vision but soon, everyone would tremble at their might with the GILGAMESH as their mace, which they would use to topple Zion. Damien, created from LCL, DNA and Inversed Angel DNA, would claim his place as a TRUE demon…and even Aki herself would not stop him.  
  
  
  
As the elevator came to a stop everything was silent. No wind, no noise, not even the clink of a gun hammer. Shinji hated it. Asuka was the first to step off the lift and thus, was the first to see the massive GILGAMESH. The design was like that of the unit zero prototype but its face was shaped to resemble a person, complete with embossed yes and a nose, even fain lips, like the funeral plate of a coffin. Asuka had to catch her breath at having seen an EVA again for the first time in a VERY long time. All around the massive Evangelion teams of men and women were busy polishing, screwing and hammering away, at the mechanical plates anyway. Shinji put his hand on Asuka's shoulder as he stepped out with Yui and Rei.  
  
"What now." Asked Rei  
  
"Find and DESTROY Aki. When she is dead we have to find Michael and then the Longinus Lance. Then we go home." Said Yui. Shinji smiled in anticipation as he and everyone else fired several shoots off into the air, scaring off most of the tech0workers and repairmen…all except for one person, his body leaning against a catwalk a long Katana in his hands. As he stepped into the light Heyates smiled, his small half-cape flickering around him.  
  
"I knew you would return to face me Ikari. You too, know I am your destiny." Shinji cringed in both laughter and repulsion.  
  
"Oh DO get a clue you un-dieing freak. It would seem that slime that regenerated your head, dint do that much in the BRAIN department WACKO!! I will always fight and defeat you, but Aki is my main concern here, not this petty squabble you have with Ikari" Heyates roared in a violent rage as he leapt down from the catwalk, almost twenty feet, and landed squarely in front of Shinji, his face raising up like a viper about to strike.  
  
"YOU, A MERE BOY DARE TO SPEAK TO ME OF MY LIFES PURPOSE, MY HONNOR, AND CALL IT A SQUABBLE?" Shinji smiled as he wave don for the others to go and find Aki: he would shut the rambling ronin up once and for all. Heyates drew his sword from its sheath, handing Shinji a second one from his side belt. Shinji put up his .45 and took up the blade. Although he never really listened to the lessons he got at NERV as far as swordsmanship ( part of his basic training schedule which he took for a few weeks then quite), he was going to need every scrap of it now.  
  
  
  
Now deep inside a storage room for what Asuka guessed was "failed" experiments, she walked with Yui and Rei in the eerie darkness, looking into the glass tubes that help the twisted and tortured remains of Carmines failed ABEL soldiers. Suddenly a long skeletal hand burst through one of the jars, its fluids spilling onto the floor as Asuka jumped back in horror. There, amid the shadows, was the as of yet un-named Hunter, his arm having apparently healed in the few hours prelude of their previous scuffle. The hand recoiled into the Hunters long black cloak as the person flashed a handsome smile.  
  
"I am here for the one called Asuka, the rest of you may go as you will." The Hunter said, his tone serious. Asuka smiled as she realized Aki was pitting her best pure-breed demons against the 34th. Smiling herself Asuka welcomed the challenge and motioned for Yui and Rei to continue their search. Rei wanted to stay but Yui pulled her along…this was Asuka's fight.  
  
  
  
Rei and Yui were now alone, deep within the bowls of the factory, where somewhere, a demon awaited its challenge, and Rei was definitely worried. The rooms that lead to the third floor scaffold levels were all like massive maze. The darkened rooms soon lead out to a large scaffold elevation platform where a black figure sat on some of the crossed bars, his long coat flickering in the warm air from the machinery below. The persons hair, normally tied back in a long tail, was now free flowing and his eyes seemed to glow a brighter blue than ever: Damien.  
  
"Rei. It's been a long time hasn't it? I always knew however that, someday, you and I would be together. Now I can finally realize this day. Yui, my master would see you in the upper room. You will go to her while I have a reunion with my beloved here." Yui looked at Rei who smiled as if to say "she would be fine". Yui hugged Rei slightly as she went up the main set od metal saitrs that lead up to the main lab rooms of the hanger bay for the GILGAMESH… Rei smiled as he pulled her riffle off her shoulder and locked its safety off. She was not going to be afraid ever again.  
  
  
  
Yui walked up the metal ladder and as she arose up to the final level, to face her mortal nemesis one last time, she found it would not be a fight alone: At Aki's sides were four others. One was an old man, in his eighties. The second man had to have been Kernner, Aki's second in command next to Damien. The other two however shocked Yui's very soul: Michael and Helen.  
  
"I see you have a rather large company of friends here with you Aki."  
  
"Hmm. You seem to have come utterly alone Yui. How ironic that you were alone for years within that EVA and now, when your life matters most, despite all your "family" you find yourself alone AGAIN."  
  
"My cause is just Aki and my family, the ones I care about will surely defeat the small legion of resurrected monsters you have with you."  
  
"Really? And how did you plan on stopping me Yui? Hmm? Were you going to pull my hair until I gave you the Lance? Or maybe you would have given me a swirley?" Yui smiled a long smile as she outstretched her hands.  
  
"No Aki. I have learned some very interesting things from the Arc Angels while I was in Zion…including a trick I plan on showing you NOW!"  
  
  
  
The force with which Heyates swung was staggering! With the first blow Shinji was nearly thorn off his feet but he managed to keep his balance and counter with an upward thrust of his own…which Heyates easily blocked and parried with another downward swing of his blade. Shinji, sensing WHERE the blade would fall, sidestepped and as the disillusioned Ronin saw his blade miss, he caught a punch in the side of the head that knocked blood and spit from his face. Heyates hit the ground hard but as Shinji raced over to conclude the duel he lunged up and nearly cleaved Ikaris's head in two halves! Shinji caught himself and blocked the attack. But now they were both enraged…except Shinji was excited with the thrill of battle. At this rate, Heyates was doomed  
  
Hunters long tendril-like arms whipped and flailed along the massive row of glass cylinders, bursting them open in succession as Asuka cart wheeled her way ahead of the mutated arms reach. But just as it seemed the bone- like claws were going to strike their target Asuka rebounded off the wall and in a blaze of gunfire, shot the vile demon to the ground as its one arm missed completely and crashed against the tables and desks holding all of Carmines notes. In powerful recoil, Hunter swung his arm back around to catch Asuka as she landed; it worked. In a surge of pain Asuka found herself being thrown for a loop as she hit the chemical soaked and glass covered floor. In a heated sense of rage Asuka picked herself up and shot Hunter a look that actually caused him to freeze in fear for a second. Asuka then pulled the pin on her last grenade.  
  
  
  
Damien circled Rei slowly, his presence emitting an aura of darkness and mystery that Rei could not deny she found alluring. Rei still however held a firm grip on her riffle.  
  
"Rei you know we are two sides to the same end. You, created from an angel and I from a demon. With our combined powers we can surely use the GILGAMESH to our own ends and destroy Aki, Satan, Zion, everyone! Think of it Rei! An entire world devoid of life except for the two of us, forever. You cannot lie and say that you did not sense something in me when we first meet. You knew we were fated to be together."  
  
"I new you were evil and that you were it be my mortal enemy for ever, as the current situation has proven. You have allegiance with your master, and I with mine. If its my angelic side you want so much, HERE IT IS!" Rei's eyes surged with white power as she began to levitate off the floor, an aura of red energy manifesting around her, her voice now a distant echo. Damien sighed as he too underwent the same process, except his energy aura was a bright green color, his eyes a mighty red shade.  
  
"I am sorry I have to destroy you Rei. I had great hopes for you." Said Damien. In a heartbeat Damien grappled with Rei's interlocked fists, the energy released melting the metal scaffolding in the process! Damien's hands soon began to burn as in his screams of anger and pressure he then saw Rei had not even yet flinched.  
  
  
  
Yui's voice soon began to stir with the power of a might chorus, her aura emitting a powerful heat field. Yui's eyes then flashed in a surge of light as from her palms streaked long bolts of white and blue lightning, a mighty aura in the shape of angelic wings taking shape over Yui's back. Aki felt the hot ribbons of power course over her body, the sheer energy searing her skin. In a yelp of pain Aki commanded for help. But as Helen and Michael went to step foreword they too were entangled by Yui's power, her voice now resonating with great authority.  
  
"HELEN, MICHAEL! You are not Aki's slaves! YOU HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED BY HER AND HER DARK MASTER! BELIEVEIN YOUR WILLPOWER AND YOU CAN BREAK HER HOLD OVER YOU!" Michael and Helen winced in a mix of agony and suffering as there inner lights fought the demonic chains that held then within Aki's prison-like state of servitude. Kernner drew his sword and raced up to Yui, his blade ready to strike down but in a millisecond a white-hot ray of pure light coursed through his chest, carrying his body and his foul soul straight into a wall where he immediately dislodged from the heavenly blast and slumped over…dead. Yui the focused her attentions back to exercising Michael and Helen. But their was another power in the room, one that did no plan on Yui's success. As the darkness of the Fallen One entered the room it filled Aki and with a mighty flex of her new un-holy strength, she broke Yui's hold and channeled it back through Yui herself! Screaming in pain Yui collapsed to the floor, as did Helen and Michael. Aki's voice, now replaced by the coldness of the dark angel, spoke calmly as he prepared to deliver the final blow: "You fought well…but this world belongs and has always belonged to ME!"  
  
  
  
Heyates screamed in anger as his attacks soon began to become more erratic, more random. Shinji sensed this and decided it best to finish the duel.  
  
"You are not the one I wanted to face! SHOW ME YOUR DARKER SIDE! SHOW ME THE ONE YOU CALL IKARI!"  
  
"Sorry. I have no recollection of whoever the hell you are talking about!" said Shinji playfully as he batted the spontaneous sword lunges of Heyates away.  
  
"LIAR! Very well! If you will not show mw the demon by free will, I will call him out by FORCE! I THINK MY SWORD WOULD BETER LIKE THE TASTE OF YOUR LOVERS FLESH INSTEAD!" with a mighty surge of power Heyates leapt backwards into the air and vanished into the upper levels of the catwalks. Deep inside his soul, Shinji screamed a scream that resonated a monstrous power inside of him. Ikari was barking at the gates and would break through soon…and then did. Shinji was then enveloped in his own rage as his darker side then assumed his form, free to wreak a just revenge upon the enemy of his family, his friends…his Asuka.  
  
Asuka leapt out of the room as she threw the grenade from her palm. The explosion that followed swept the surrounding like a hot tidal wave that aided Asuka's massive acceleration by a good bit. Landing a few feet away from the smoldering remains of the lab room, Asuka coughed up and rose to her feet. But then, amid the flames and heat, the Hunter stood, his eyes aglow and his body fully extended, claws ad all. Asuka then turned in horror to see the grizzled and scarred face of Heyates before her. In a blink Heyates'es fist clenched Asuka's throat, his sword raised high over his head. Asuka struggled to breath but Heyates only gripped harder.  
  
"It is okay young one. Your lover must me taught respect!" he said. Suddenly Ikari swept out of the shadows like a bullet from the barrel chamber of hell, his sword aflame with rage as his impact with the blade completely removed the ronin's arm, sword and all. Releasing his grip Heyates staggered backward and leaned against the rail. But as he looked upwards, Ikari, screaming in rage, threw the sword in his hands with such force it cleared his rib cage and completely toppled him from the catwalk, sending him thirty feet below and into the pile of old machinery below, the sword still plunged inside of his chest cavity.  
  
  
  
Rei's mind, now completely immersed in her own power, suddenly became a magnet for the senses around her: fear, pain, rage, suffering, revenge, and death, These feeling soon overcame Rei, her mind becoming overwhelmed like a dam with too much water behind it…and it broke. In a single burst of power Rei broke Damien hands, sending the demonic teenager reeling in unfathomable physical pain, his eyes pulsing with anger. But they were soon filled with fear as he saw Rei, her hands clenched over her head, trying to block the influx of senses and emotion that were bombarding her at one. Rei's aura of red light, her AT-Field soon began to grow in intensity, her eyes flashing from white to red in a strobe-like pattern. In a mighty scream Rei's AT-Field took the shape of a set of massive outstretched wings assembled from pure flame, her body covered in faint blue and white lines that seemed to cover the contour of her frame. Everything was then bathed in white light as Rei's scram echoed throughout the factory…even throughout the countryside. As the light cleared, where Rei, the girl once stood, their was a magnificent woman dressed in the war armor of an arc-angel and in her hands, a massive Lance like that of Longinus. Rei had ascended once more through the power of Zion…. From a distance stood Tyr, a smile on his face. Rei had re-ascended, like she had done two years earlier, Yui was channeling the powers of Zion, and "Ikari" had surfaced. Now was as good a time as any to step in….  
  
  
  
Aki froze in her tracks as she looked out to see the beautiful warrior- angel woman standing in the darkness, her light like flaming beacon of raw salvation. But Rei had another light in store for Aki. Rei was now formed like an adult woman, her hair long and flowing in locks of aqua beauty, her armor as white and as radiant as the moon, a blood red lance in her hands. Rei outstretched the lance, her eyes focused on the manifested form of the Beast in Aki's body. With a thunderous voice like a thousand thunderclaps, yet still as innocent as Rei's nature, she began to pass judgment over the Fallen Angel.  
  
"YOU, Lucifer, have gone against the will of Zion and have brought here with you torture, death, doom, and misery. For these crimes I have ascended to this level in order to being you back for judgment!" With a powerful blast from her lance Rei encircled Aki's body in a powerful net-like beam of raw power, the beast screaming in anger as he found he could not break away. Rei's eyes glowed with ever more intensity as the very ground began to shake, a light emanating everywhere. As Michael looked upon the light the cold grip of Satan's power loosed from his body and he could feel the warm glow of his core resonate throughout his body again, while Helen felt the brainwashing effects of Aki's torture melt away like fog in the sunlight.. Shinji's mind came to ease as Asuka ran up and embraced him. Suddenly however the GILGAMESH activated to life, it massive form standing up straight, breaking away from its restraints. With a powerful blast the GILGAMESH emitted its AT-Field and everything went black. 


	13. Chapter 11: A Journey He Must make

Chapter 11: A Journey He Must Make  
  
  
  
Shinji's head was on fire, his very mind seeming to be alight with a powerful feeling of pain, as he had never felt before. Still, he clenched his eyes shut, not wanting to open them…the light. Rei had seemed to be on fire with her own sheer angelic power, a power she had not used in over two years…since the Lance. Shinji remembers his mind reverting back to normal, from his few moments as his darker self, Ikari…he remembered how Asuka embraced him and then his world, the very existence around him, shattered. Now he was in the dark…and alone. Finally Shinji forced his eyes open…and he was aghast. He was in a gorgeous room!! Not as gorgeous as, say, the Hilton or the Drake hotel…better! His very bed sheets seemed to be made from spun gold, heck, his bed was a massive feather pillow with silk and velvet lining! Shinji pulled himself up, in a daze of fright and surprise, and looked around. He had to be dreaming. The room was crafted, quite literally, from every precious stone he had ever seem or even imagined! Massive sapphire pillars supported a ruby and ivory lined ceiling while the floor was a marbleized mix of white marble and jade…yet amid all this stone, he was quite warm! The air was scented by the perfumes of a thousand incense sticks…yet not even the least bit overpowering! Shinji found his bleeding wounds were completely healed over and he was also fully clothed in a sleeping ensemble of sorts, a robe made if silver thread with small crystal buttons! As Shinji looked around more a door in the corner suddenly opened up and inside stepped a tall figure, his body the ultimate example of physical shape, a long sword at his side to complement his massive amount of war armor, an assemble resembling that of ancient knights. But even more to Shinji's surprise were the persons wings, created from light that seemed to flicker around the angelic beings shoulders. Angel? Heaven? Shinji then took in the full account of what had happened. He was IN Zion, the great city of…GOD HIMSELF.  
  
"You are probably very surprised master Ikari. I am Helios, your guardian servant. The others are waiting in the master room with Michael. Please, we are late." The angel pointed gently to the door and gave Shinji a smile that seemed to alleviate any fear…but replaced them with even more shock. Why was he in heaven? Did he and the others die somehow? Shinji gulped strongly and went to the door, Helios closeting it behind him. Shinji then saw before him a MASSIVE hallway with countless doors and stairways leading upwards to hundreds of feet in the skies, the environment still…gorgeous. Helios could not help but look on Shinji's face, at his sheer amazement and delight, something angels tended to do when confronted with a newly received mortal. "You are very quite. That is most unnatural for many who come here master Ikari."  
  
"Oh…sorry. I am just overwhelmed by this place! The last time I was here, I was on the very outskirts speaking with Michael and Rei. Inside is truly paradise!" Helios laughed greatly, Shinji stopping thinking he had done or said something very foolish.  
  
"I do not mean to laugh so much…but this is merely the arriving quarters! All who are introduced to Zion arrive here and are escorted to the Judgment seat, THEN they enter paradise, a place that has been specifically chosen by the masters for YOU alone, and no other." Shinji smiled as he realized the genius of the design…yet wondered where Asuka was.  
  
"Master Ikari is no doubt wondering where Mistress Shoyu is? She is with the others, right through those doors" Helios pointed to a set of large door. Shinji blushed a bit at realizing this angelic could reads this thoughts so easily and pushed the doors open. Inside was a large type of meditation room with a floor covered by pillows where a beautiful woman lay stretched out, her lengths of red-gold hair spread out everywhere. In the corner another woman sat, her red eyes deeply involved in a book. Shinji then saw Yui, Tyr and Michael, all gathered around a massive table involved in conversation with a man who looked like he was almost a million! Suddenly everyone looked up and saw Shinji, their reactions turning to joy and the reaction to immediately rush up and hug him intensely…except for Tyr: he stood on the side and smiled.  
  
"Would somebody like to explain things here!?" said Shinji. Helios couldn't agree more  
  
  
  
Shinji and the others, who were all equally dressed in amazingly elaborate garments, went with Helios to a massive courtyard where their were millions upon millions of people, al of them deep in conversation with one another! Now as to mortal eyes, seeing so many people in one place would seem like a megalithic event yet everyone seemed at peace, calm. Shinji and Asuka then looked up into the skies and found there was in fact no sun!  
  
"I see you have noticed the skies of Zion. Indeed, as you now know, we have no need for night for day, thus there is no sun. Our Lord provides all the illumination his plane needs." Shinji smiled as he and Helios walked past countless groups of people, all intimately involved n deep topics and all were welcoming others to join in!  
  
"This is where people who have lead lonely and isolated lives may choose to be for as long as they wish. Here they are literally surrounded by people who are just as eager to speak with them as they are to do so with others. But this is one other countless houses set up by the masters. I am to show you some if you would permit me. Think of it as a grand tour" Everyone, needless to say, agreed! Suddenly Shinji, Asuka, Tyr, Rei, Helen lifted off the ground and began to levitate into the air until they and Helios were many feet in the sky! Surprisingly however Shinji found he could maneuver as if I were second nature to him! Helios motioned for everyone to gather together as he pointed over to the horizon. In the great expanse everyone saw it: ZION, gleaming like a great pearl tower inlaid with gold and light in the distance.  
  
"That is where the great gates are, guarded by all the hosts of heaven itself. We will have an audience with the arc-angels soon but until then me show you the glory og our masters handiwork." Thus, with a sudden burst of speed, Helios lead the five mortals across the great expanse of conversing souls until they descend upon a massive lake, its shore thick with foliage and a countless variety of plant life from every known biome. As Asuka looked at a rose growing next to a massive redwood, a small cat leapt out of the foliage! The small Siamese kitten looked up at Asuka, its blue eyes melting into Asuka's heart. Asuka reached down to pet the small kitten when a massive lioness suddenly emerged from behind a tee. Asuka screamed as she reeled back, falling on her posterior in the process.  
  
"Asuka, have no fear. Animals in this paradise have no fear of men nor need to harm them. I assure you that the lioness is simply curious!" Asuka eyes Helios suspiciously as she then turned to see the kitten being bathed clean by the massive cat with claws the size of Asuka's face! Gently Asuka reached out, her hand trembling as he caressed the lions lower jaw, sighing in silent relief as a loud purring sound emitted from the throat of the large cat.  
  
"This place is one where those souls who loved nature, the creation of the master, may visit for as long as they want if they wish to live and explore all the creatures in the lords kingdom."  
  
"And all the animals get along? No fighting?" said Rei, her eyes focused on a large golden eagle in the expansive sky.  
  
"Correct Rei. Come along….there is much more" Once more the small band of mortals ascended up into the air and saw the full view of the huge garden, its green mass dotted by large mountains and great bodies of water that reached out to what seemed like the end of time. As time literally flew by the land seemed to become a countryside dotted by endless numbers of people simply lying under the warm sky with a gentle breeze blowing over them.  
  
"Here is the realm of sleep, the state of consciousness between awake, sleep and dreaming, when one is fully aware of their reality yet dreams till come. These may remain in that state as long as they wish.:  
  
"Heaven certainly is a big place! How big acutely is it anyway?" asked Tyr  
  
"Infinite. You must remember there are almost a trillion souls that exist in this place with countless paradisial homes for them all. The master aims to please those who were faithful in their lives on the Earth."  
  
"What about those who weren't faithful…what happens to them" asked Yui. Helios remained very quiet for a long time until he spoke again.  
  
"Just as there are endless expanses of paradise, there are equally deserving and numerous places of torture and misery for those who rejected his message. But more on that latter. Zion awaits" As Helios finished that sentence the very plane of reality passed away to reveal a totally next location, that of the skies immediately in front of the great gates of pearl, their kilometer thick sides engraved with megalithic murals of human and heavenly history, even the future that had not yet occurred. Yui slowly approached the wall, her hands caressing the warm pearl, its white and pink finish like glass on her skin. Helios descended and everyone followed suite, eventually landing before the "front" of the huge gates where a tall man in heavy armor and wielding a massive fiery sword stood guard.  
  
"This is Peter, the guardsman." Said Helios. Everyone looked dup nervously, their gaze more on the huge sword than St. Peter. The hulking megalith smiled a bit and with his immense strength pulled the gates open, a flood of light shooting forth…and there it was. The bastion of God itself. The place was more elaborately designed than any structure on earth or, in Shinji's mind, anything anyone could conceive without seeing it first. Massive golden pillars, fountains of crystal waters, endless candles emitting a holy scent, and everything was truly perfect. Helios lead everyone along further until they came upon a large chamber filled with being who seemed to resemble Michael, thus, they were all Arc Angels, their armor a dead give away. Helios pointed to a few empty seats at the front of the chamber where Yui and everyone else sat down. After some conversation among the angels one-stepped down, his body adorned with long robes of silver under his white mantle and wine red cloak. He seemed to be different from the other angels, lack of armor included.  
  
"I take it these are the ones?"  
  
The figure said, his tone curious and a hint mysterious. Helios nodded from afar and the angel turned to look upon these whom were in heaven and nit truly "dead".  
  
"May I ask why were are here?" said Yui  
  
"Indeed. You, the valiant people who saved Zion from the Beast two years prior, are in Zion because you were commanded to be brought here by out master."  
  
"Why would he want us to return here? We were about to destroy Aki and the GILGAMESH." Said Asuka  
  
"No. Rei, in her state of anger and sadness, ascended to her zenith of power and in so doing put the world in a great deal of danger. Unless issued to by Michael or Jehovah, angels are not supposed unveil their power…that is saved for the day of final judgment. What Rei did was actually thus. Satan seems to have split his powers from his body, to act like a "liveing0shadow" within this temporal other time line in conjunction with Aki , Damien and the Evangelion. His power is still linked in with THIS reality, like radios signal going to a receiver of sorts. Rei however was fully immersed in her aura and could have annihilated MUCH of the world if she had even thought of using such power. Satan used that power to anchor his physical form into that reality, like huge springboard that jettisoned him from the Hades of this plane into the mortal realm of the second plane. Needless to say, Satan has been freed of his limitations of body and is roaming loose in that world, a world where he was once only a spiritual presence."  
  
"My god!" said Shinji, everyone's faces aghast with shock….except for Tyr.  
  
"We sensed something like that would indeed occur and thus we informed Tyr of our fears in a dream. Tyr then left your group to infiltrate Aki and her squads, all in an effort to gain access to the EVA, so when indeed Rei did unleash her power, he could be ready to expand the AT-FIELDS and have the combine power influx of angelic power bring you all here to us, where we could more clearly inform you of the next necessary step in the plan to shut down Aki's dark plans"  
  
"Which would be what?" said Asuka  
  
"The resurrection of the evangelions and the re-birth of NERV of curse." the angel said, his tone witty and sarcastic…but kind.  
  
  
  
The angels were in a zealous panic as the lead speaker for the arc Angels continued with his "de-briefing" of the EVA pilots and their friends  
  
"You are all strong willed people…but no match for the fully physicalized Lucifer and his demons, not to mention the resurrected Angels."  
  
"How is it the angels are there? Were they all not destroyed?" asked Rei  
  
"Good question. The angels YOU fought were from the future of the world you just arrived from. Through the power of the EVA's presence, the angels who were asleep on the planet have re-awoken to judge mankind. HOWEVER, unlike the angels you faced, these are not empowered with the mentality to eradicate NERV and find ADAM. They simply wish to destroy this 'outside force" which they have identified as the EVA 08, The Gilgamesh, which is with Isafriel fought Tyr in the outskirts of that Russian city…and many more will come as well."  
  
"Aki seemed to be rambling about a power beyond angel or EVA? What dose she want?" asked Tyr  
  
"Aki has become aware, through demonic influence, of the power God once bestowed on mankind. When man was born he was as Adam, a massive being who was made in Gods own image…perfection. HOWEVER, as the serpent tricked his mate, EVE or as some now call her, Lilith, ADAM was humbled and reduced ins size, his physical form eventually resting with that of his mate in the frozen waters of what is today Antarctica…where SEELE found them both, as well as the Longinus Lance."  
  
"Um, sir? What is the Longius Lane and why dose Aki use it in such a way as to revive the dead!" asked Yui  
  
"The Lance of Longinus is in fact a root from the tree of life. Taken by Adam and eve, it was to be the beginning of a new garden outside of Paradise. HOWEVER, the root was too much of a power for either of them to bear and they never could sue it without gods aide…yet they carried it with them, even unto their great slumber in the frozen lands of Antarctica, yet another treasure for SEELE to harness. Within the Lance is a power that has existed since creation…the power of God. Aki seems to be harnessing the creational aspect of its power to revive the dead, much like its fruit would give immortality if it were to take root. But the lance also has in it dark energies of destruction and fire that is unleashed, could wipe out that reality…and every person in it."  
  
"You spoke of NERV's rebirth? What do you mean?" said Shinji, his hand clenched tight with Asuka's  
  
"Simply put, we here in Zion will fully restore the massive complex that powered the Evangelion when they were on Earth and we will also have those who ran NERV to return as well. Dr. Akagi, who is here with us in paradise has agreed to return as have Maya and the countless others who were involved with the ASIER battle."  
  
"What about my father?" There was silence for a great while  
  
"Shinji…you know the penalty for taking ones own life…damnation. However, the lord has agreed for YOU to ask in if he would like to return to NERV."  
  
"ASK HIM?!"  
  
"Indeed. You and one other would have to go, prot4cted of course, into Hades and find your father. If he wishes to, yes, he would be allowed to return to his mortal life" Shinji was stricken with horror…and for good reason as the last time he saw his father it was as he detonated a bomb in a jet holding the traitor Aetius and his vile witch of an assistant Guri, Shinji had looked on, from inside his EVA, as his fathers jet crashed into NERV HQ and destroyed a massive amount of soldiers who were going to try and shoot Misato out of her gun-station. Gendo Ikari, the once heartless bastard of a man who had sought o find his place I life by destroying it, had gone out of the world in an effort to save everyone he loved dearly, which as it turned out, was Shinji sine if Misato had not been around to shoot of the arm of the possessed EVA 06 when she had, than Shinji would have surely died that day…along with the human race. Shinji felt his stomach cringe and tense, hi blood running cold in is veins.  
  
"Where…are Aki and her horde?" said Shinji, trying to change the subject for a moment  
  
"Aki and Damien are free. Only you, whom had seen Zion's light once before, were taken. Unless we act fast and see if Gendo will join with us…we will be giving Aki time to re-group and re-power the GILGAMESH. And the sooner we get NERV online…the sooner we can restore your evangelions. But first you must choose who will accompany you into the pit." Shinji squeezed Asuka's hand as he rose up out of his seat, Asuka getting up with him. Shinji turned in surprise as Asuka answered the question for him.  
  
"I, Asuka Langley Shoyu will go with him."  
  
"Excellent. Let us begin" said the angel. "By the way. My name is Gabriel" 


	14. Chapter 12 Reunion

Chapter 12: Reunion  
  
  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: I swear, everything will go back to being kill-kill action…once Shinji gets out of hell anyway…  
  
The skies of Zion were black as a spot of night that had seen no light since its conception. Only the light of Gabriel and Michael lit the surroundings as Shinji, Asuka and their escorts passed deep into the realm of eternal night…the doorstep to hell. Shinji's head swan with wails and shrieks while the air went from burning hot to numbing cold in seconds. Shinji knew his body was being guided along by Gabriel and Michael power bur he wonders what it would be like…to fall down into the great expanse of doom only a few miles below. Asuka seemed to be enveloped in questions as well when Shinji looked over, her face slightly afraid…but only as much fear as Asuka regularly showed Shinji: she want completely changed by his feeling foe her…nor he by hers. Both still retained prides, something they would keep until their mutual or separate ends… Michael guided the two children to a great hallway suspended in the black air, its supports the night and its suspension rails the shadows. The hall was only like a section of a real building, plucked from pace and set upon nothing, however, it seemed to be as a doorway…to somewhere beyond the shadows. Shinji set his feet on the stone floor and wondered if too much weight would send the structure plummeting down deep into the black abyss…it didn't. Before the group now was a great door, its frame bearing many symbols and letters. Gabriel sensed the young boys confusion and explained.  
  
"Shinji, this is Janus, the gatekeeper of the netherworld and Hades. Normally he would never allow a soul to enter or exit unless it was deemed an act of the lord of something of great power forced the doors open. That Shinji, is what the Longinus Lance dose: It pry's this very door open, if called too, and can resurrect, revive or condemn a soul into the abyss for an untold amount of time." Shinji stood, perplexed, as he saw a set of great yellow, cat-like eyes, open in the shadows before the arch of the great sealed door, a voice soon emitting from the night. "WHAT DO YOU WANT, SERVENT OF JEHOVA." The voice asked  
  
"We are here to safely see these mortals into Hades. They are going to escort a soul OUT of the abyss prepaid for it due to his prior selflessness."  
  
"YOU KNOW THE LAW. NO SOUL MAY BE JUDGED OR FORGIVEN BY WORLDY DEEDS."  
  
"We DO know but this is a matter of great importance and the Lord wills you to open the doors." The great gate close sits eyes and rumbled the suspended building a bit…then opened the gates. As the door opened Shinji and Asuka saw something that they would never again forget: a great expanse of mortal men and women, all suspended above one another into infinity, there heads encased in a bizarre apparatus that seemed connected to the whole of this, dark matrix of souls. Michael and the children passed through, while Gabriel stood by the gate.  
  
"Aren't you coming?" asked Asuka  
  
"Nay. With the gate being held open I must act as the Keeper for now until you return with Gendo…if he decides to come at all. Hell dose bizarre thing to the soul…but if never FULLY converts them. Even the greatest of sinners can go to hell and never truly learn his lesson…that is, after all, why he was condemned in the beginning. He had a purpose to not accept the word of the master…and he never will, not fully. Know that when you ace your father Shinji. He may not be allowed a permanent stay in Zion…only a fleeting one…unless he changes, something, so far, no soul has yet to do." Shinji nodded as he and Michael passed along the endless rows of damned souls, their faces covered by the strange devices of the void.  
  
"What is over there faces?" said Asuka, her tone hinted with disgust  
  
"They are Repyal, demons of the lower worlds. They converse the soul in all its former sins, manifested by their imaginations, so they re-live various moments of there life…forever."  
  
"I don't understand?" said Shinji  
  
"Let us take Dr. Nano Akagi. She killed and then committed suicide for it. When her soul arrived here from judgment she was sentenced to relive the murder of the little girl…as that little girl. Then, once facing deaths, she will relive her final moments and be fully aware of her final fate…yet be unable to stop herself from her final, tragic decision."  
  
Shinji and Asuka shivered in fright as such a realization coursed through they're bodies.  
  
"What…is my father facing? In this place?"  
  
"Your fathers ultimate failure as a person was just that…his personality to you and the rest of humanity. He is to be relieving every moment of your life, along with Yui, Rei, Misato and the others, now fully aware of how all of you felt during his times of viciousness and cruelty. He is mostly however, relieving the moments that he made you attack Toji during the incident with Bardariel, the angel of corruption. Shinji's fist suddenly clenched tightly, his eyes closed in a tensioning rage.  
  
"I…remember him now...MY father. I…had forgotten how evil he was, how he…still could be! Tell me…why are we going to find him?"  
  
"because in the final moments of his life he was allowed the clarity of vision to benefit the greater good of man, not his side of it. As he died, his soul was allowed the change to make amends somehow…through helping Zion revive the EVA's and destroying the now loosed powers of Satan. If he succeeds in that, he could be allowed to retain his lost form on earth…but that may not happen. But know this Shinji…we DO need him, possibly most of all."  
  
"WHY!?" shouted Shinji  
  
"The way to restore something is to collect the memories of that thing and re-manifest them. Your fathers mind is the final, and largest piece, to restoring the GeoFront…and as such, we need him. Can you commit to speaking with him again?"  
  
Shinji unclenched his fist as Asuka approached his side and put her hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Shinji, do what you must do." Shinji lowered his head and as he went to walk forward…ran back to the exit! Shinji raced along the rows of levitating souls, his mind trying to erase the last image he had of his father from his mind…the image of selflessness. Shinji hayed it, hated how his bastard of a father had suddenly switched off his cruelty and selfishness to die a martyr to the planets cause! Did he enjoy twisting reality into such a knott? Shinji always had a certain…aspect on life, as did everybody. But perhaps the biggest source of "center" in his universe was the viciousness and malevolence of his father…Gendo "Rokubungi" Ikari. But that day, the horrible day the power of Longinus threatened to wipe out the world and usher it into a new demonic age, was also the day his bastard of a father saved everyone's life by destroying himself in a great ball of fire. Lots of things changed that day…but most if all, Shinji's heart…and he hated it! "It just proves…that life is not certain, that good might not always win out over evil because…evil can change!" Shinji shouted, his eyes reddening with tears. Asuka looked on her lover, staggered in amazement at this revelations in his thinking…all because of his father.  
  
"Shinji, look a me." Asuka pulled Shinji up to her eye level, her great sapphire blue orbs radiating with a sense of calming. "You know Aki must be destroyed and the massive destructions she caused set right again. To do that we need the memories your father has and to get them we need YOU Shinji…I need you. You must be strong, for me, the world, and for…yourself. You must not run away." Shinji smiled at hearing that line spoken aloud to him again. Misato hadn't been with the 34th when they departed….but her spirit still lingered with their hearts. Shinji knew he would have to be brave like Misato, like Yui…like Asuka. Shinji grabbed Asuka by the hand and raced up to Gabriel, his eyes still filled with dead tears.  
  
"Where is he!?" shouted Shinji, his voice full of confidence and power. Gabriel straightened his silver and red robes as he lead Shinji to a great obelisk in the "center" of the great pit, its presence literally emitting a sense of fear and wonder along its smooth black surface. Gabriel touched the black stone and as he did muttered the words "Gendo" and with a brilliant streak of white lighting, reached through the pillars as if it were the mirrored surface of a pond and in his hand, coated in blacked slime, was a human body…Gendo Ikari. Shinji had never seen anything so repulsive in all his days: here was the figure of his father, the once unbreakable NERV commander, reduced to a quivering slime covered stalk of his former self.  
  
"GENDO IKARI, YOU WERE FOUND GUILTY OF SELF TERMINATION IN THE COURSE OF YOUR PHYSICAL LIFE BUT HAVE BEEN GIVEN A SECOND CHANCE! YOUR SON, SHINJI WILL EXPLANE FURTHER!" Gabriel said, his voice resonating with a back-echo that seemed to cascade across the vast expanse of souls. With a powerful thrust, Gabriel suspended Gendo before Shinji, his head looking up to see the image he had to live with for countless "years" in the abyss…that of his only begotten son.  
  
"Shinji…you're alive? Was The Beast…destroyed?"  
  
"No. Through tampering with the Longinus, Aki, Damien, and the Beast have escaped into a parallel universe where they are trying to harvest the cores of dead angels for some horrific plan. Zion wants to restore NERV father, the entire GeoFront, right here in Heaven but to do so they need the memories of those who lived and worked there. Your memories are the last piece to complete the sequence. Will you join us…will you be the dad you tried to be the day you left me?" Gendo looked up, his eyes weak and tired, and he reached out his hand, clenching his son's shoulder and pulled him too for a hug. A Hug. Shinji broke down into tears, his mind overloaded by almost 16 years of backed up and misunderstood emotions. Gabriel gently pulled the two apart and looked Gendo in the eyes.  
  
"Do you, Gendo Ikari, swear your allegiance to the One God and his kingdom, to renounce the enemy and all his agents lest ye return here to the pit?"  
  
"I do." Said Gendo, his neck pulling his head to look at his feet, his body still wracked with intense pain. With no more reasons to remain in the pit any longer the four began to go back to the great gate of Janus…but something was disturbing Gabriel, so much so he actually stopped dead in his tracks and surveyed the surroundings…eyeing the souls and anything that could be hiding within them. Shinji and the others stopped for a moment to see what was going on and Gabriel saw this, turning to continue the exit. The time had come to restore the Evangelions  
  
  
  
Aki sat quietly in her "office" back at Bromine castle, her confrontation at the GILGAMESH holding site having taken a great tole on her physically as well as mentally. As to WHERE the pesky little Heaven Boy-Scoutts had been whisked away too remained a lingering question in her mind but one she decided not to trouble herself with…too much. Although it was clear Rei held the power of a Zionist conduit, her power was more like an uncontrollable spasm, a flash fire. When the great flash of power had faded and Aki found herself alone with her minions she immediately took to flight…choosing to leave poor Kernner. It seemed his little scheme to become the physical manifestation for the Master had failed…at the price of his mortal life, but Aki still had many geno-wermacht soldiers to choose from…and then there was the GILGAMESH. Since Tyr vanished with the 34th Damien had become the pilot, something Aki feared would inflate his ego even more beyond repair. It had been a week since the battle and as of yet, no clue from her spies or even the mole agents in the 34th band across Russia…it was as if they had vanished off the face of the planet  
  
  
  
Zions main hall was a flurry of activity as every spectrum of angel buzzed around in preparation for the great events that were to occur in a few moments. Every mayor war-angel, cherub, seraphim, medatron and Arc0Angel were summoned up to a great theater-like chamber, its roof overlaid with a huge mural of the Zion-Civil War, its colors showing the light of heaven versus the blackness of the enemy. Shinji and the others all entered into the rooms center where MANY old faces were seen again! Fuyutsuki was there, as was Maya and the tech-crew, Dr. Akagi, restored from her prior sate, and even the one person Shinji didn't expect…Kawru Nagisa, all decked out in his silver and gray battle armor, his hair longer and tied back. Shinji rushed up and greeted his friend…who was once his enemy.  
  
"It is good to see you again Shinji." Said Kawru, his tone happy yet monotone at once, like he knew the inside of some great cosmic joke.  
  
"Are you going to help restore the GeoFront?"  
  
"Indeed I am. Many faces here I expected to see not are actually arriving from across your mortal realms. It would seem an age of peace had descended once the EVAs and The Lance departed from it…now life is dull and lazy."  
  
"Well Aki brought those things into a time when nothing of that's ort is needed. Such a dark power imbalance could trip the scales of good and plunge that world into an endless night."  
  
"If indeed that is what Aki plans. The Master seems to think she wishes for the power of all powers: Li."  
  
"Li?"  
  
"Yes. When our master made the universe he used his own sheer will, which released Li into the universe. Li is like the emissions of a powerful truck, loose…but lethal when collected or contained in one place. If Aki knew how she could use the Lance to gather all the Li from eternity and…channel it into something."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"Basically, Aki has the power to either wipe out existence or become a being on the level of the Master himself, something not even Lucifer had dared too do."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because in the process of becoming the Almighty, you must intake all thing s essences into you…at once. Not even Lucifer could withstand such a power and walk away not mortally wounded."  
  
"…but what about the EVA? Could the EVA do it?" asked Shinji. Kawru remained silent as a small figure descended into the room. Immediately all the persons dropped to the floor, their faces hidden. Shinji stood upright, wondering WHO this small child was and WHAT he was doing…and why he commanded so much respect. The child, cloaked in a glowing white hem, approached Shinji and looked up into his eyes, they're thoughts crossing and communicating in such a way as to all of Shinji's questions were answered.  
  
"He is…? But he…so…small?" The figure bowed a slight bit and then spoke, his words sweet and resonating. "Hear me now my children and creations. The time has come to rectify the errors made my mortal men 18 years ago when the blasphemously tried to ussperp my authority…and then, redeemed themselves by showing they were worthy of extended time as individuals in the great design. HOWEVER, certain mortals have allied with the powers of the Fallen One and have succeeded in separating his physical and spiritual powers, loosing a great plague upon whatever realm he is in. To combat the threat of these evil individuals I sent the pilots of the EVANGELIONS into the rift-world to see what they could discern indeed it is bleak news . Unless the EVA's are restored to they're prime functions, Aki and Lucifer will certainly try to channel all infinity's LI enemry into a vessel…something that must not occur. Many mortal men and women have been involved in the conception of the Evangelions and they're maintenance, something I respect and admire as they're gifts were given for a reason. To that end, I will now re0manifest NERV here in Zion, so that the Evangelions may be operated below in the lower reached of the world. Think of it as a "remote" operation. The EVAw will have a new method of getting to the pilots but once delivered, the aspects of the tech staff will remain that of how everything operated before. You were a team against the angels, the demons and now against the very Prince of Darkness himself. Do I have your commitment?" A mighty cheer arose up from the skies and grounds of Zion and what was the very Almighty himself, outstretched his hands and began to re- construct NERV based on the memories of all those who walked its halls, sat in its chairs, ate in its work rooms…repaired in its bays. This place, this restored GeoFront, would be the new War-Room for the soldiers in the fight against the Fallen One. In the distance many saw the mighty city arise up like a plant growing in sped up motion. Where was once a stone covering, there was now glass and iron, and gold! The huge city was magnificent, in every way. The city towers were suspended over a massive glass support plate, which coved along with the moon-like hollow that was the trademark look of the GeoFront. Huge tracts ran along a silver railway until they descended into the actual city itself…home of the Evangelions themselves. It was like looking in on a glass house that was beautifully crafted and gorgeous to conceive. Everyone continued to look on in amazement as the entire "city-sphere" actually suspended into the very air!  
  
"From here you will all become agents of Zion, al bound in the one mission to destroy Aki and her powers of darkness. But beware. She has re-summoned the old angels and with there power, many could de harmed. This day marks the beginning of NERV's rebirth." Shinji smiled and nearly collapsed as he looked over to see Misato standing not more than fifty feet away, Toji Suzahara at her side…and they were waving her him to come over. 


	15. Chapter 13: Return to Battle

Chapter 13: Return to Battle  
  
Shinji and Gendo walked along the inner hallways of the restored NERV complex, their expressions saying volumes as the clear scope of the Lords restoration becoming apparent. The Lord, who was still taking the form and mannerisms of a small child, paused in his walk and turned to face Shinji, his radiant eyes showing Shinji images of endless peace that almost broke him into tears,  
  
"Shinji, as a pilot of an evangelion, you have a powerful role to play in my design. Are you willing to go on piloting the evangelion?"  
  
"With all due respect sir…what design? This is very bizarre to me, heaven, hell and all, so I am not sure WHAT it is were trying to accomplish other than destroying Aki….something I find questionable for you to even be doing!" God giggled a small bit, his childlike nature shining through a small bit.  
  
"Oh Shinji you truly are special to me. It is imperative mankind move on to the next level I have planned for them. I had once thought about judging mankind through natural trials and allowing the demons more freedom in the end days….but then you went and began creating evangelions. At first I was furious and literally was about to annihilate the entire human race for such blasphemy. But then I saw you pilots. Within the souls of you children I saw the gifts that could carry man to a higher understanding of my power and it would be activated by, of all things, by the evangelions themselves! As man advanced in understanding of spiritual power I too saw what I loved about men: there spirit of freedom, there power to make choices. You Shinji must now make a choice. Aki and Damien, two being who should have already been sentenced and judges in this life, have avoided there fates and are threatening to topple a whole timeline in another universe. I am not really trying to stop them for my sake but for everyone else's you see. If Satan goes unchecked my plan for the universe will not go as it was meant to. True, I could indeed clap my hands and make everything better but could I not also convert the world to my cause and not gave men the chance to do things for themselves? You, Shinji Ikari, are the champion of the human race, there vanguard. I know your actions will best represent them as you and your allies face a challenge unlike anything faced by any before. I believe in you Shinji" Shinji smiled as Gendo put his hands on his shoulder and added, "I am proud of you, my son."  
  
"Hey kid, what have you been up too!" a familiar voice said from behind. Shinji's eyes lit up as he turned to see Misato and Toji, along with Yui and Asuka, standing down at the opposite end of a hallway. Shinji rushed up and nearly knocked Misato over with the force of his hug, Misato laughed as Shinji looked over his "dead" guardian. Misato hadn't changed much in the way of looks, save for her now neck length hair, but she wore the "uniform" of an angel ( long robes w/ armor ).  
  
"Is Kaji here?" Shinji asked slightly, hoping his friend had made it to his final paradise.  
  
"OH TRUST ME, he's here!" said Misato, her face becoming red as a beet. "He wanted to come today but was busy with some mission for Gabriel. He'll be along shortly"  
  
"What is this? "Hi Misato", "Where's Kaji" but ya say NOTHING to me? I am hurt!" Shinji looked over to Toji, a muted expression on his face. Shinji and he embraced, there silence soon filled by laughter. Yui smiled and then turned her head to see Gendo, her face slightly blushing as he approached her and embraced her in his arms. She would not deny she missed the feeling but it was quite awkward after being gone from him for so long…but she returned the embrace.  
  
"Shinji, go gather up the other pilots. It is time you all learned how you will be receiving your evangelions."  
  
  
  
  
  
"The terminal room of Central Dogma looked the same, right down to the coffee stained computer consoles" Maya thought as she took her seat next to her old friends, Fuyutsuki atop his perch once more as Yui sat in the commanders chair, assuming the role she had been forced to abandon almost three years ago now. The pilots were taken to the old launch cages with Misato while the Lord manifested his shape before the video consoles of the observation screens before the Dogma crew. As Shinji and the others reached the empty cages the Lord began.  
  
"As you all know, the only way Shinji and the other EVA pilots could successfully follow Aki and the Beast through the rift created by Longinus was to do so in their EVA units. However, once they arrived on the other side of the rift, they found their EVA's without power and in a dangerous place. Luckily the EVA's were well managed by very "open minded" English agents who managed to keep them hidden from Aki's agents for close to two years…still un-powered however. Before now, man and EVA have been separate beings, but now…they shall break that barrier called space and become one." Suddenly, with a swirl of lightening and raw heat, the launch cages suddenly found themselves supporting all units of the EVA series up to 7. While Shinji and the others recognized six of the EVA's as their own one was new. It seemed to be modeled after the 02 yet it was silver and blue, with red highlights.  
  
"You are no doubt wondering what the old unit 4 is doing here? I have planned for Kawru to rejoin you all as an EVA pilot" the Lord said as Kawru appeared alongside the other pilots in a swirl of blue light that slowly dissipated.  
  
"will you children, now slowly grown over time, please approach your EVA unit and place your hands upon them." Said the Lord. The pilots then broke away from one another and did as the Lord asked, taking their time to walk across the huge launch bay to get to there units. Once they did this the Lord resumed.  
  
"Now, as Adam and Eve were once one, REJOIN!" said The lord as a sudden blast of sheer power coursed through the room. Shinji, his hands still on 01, suddenly found they were stuck! Then, red ribbons of light actually streaked outwards from his body and began to converge over 01's physical form, as of trying to cover it! Shinji turned his head and then saw this was happening to the other children as well! After a few seconds all of 01 was now entwined by the red light fibers. Then, with a brilliant flash of light, the red fibers that were emitting from Shinji's body, actually began to SHRINK THE EVANGELION! Shinji looked in amazement as the Eva was physically being compressed by the pulling and twisting of the red light cables, its once massive presence now slowly dwindling. Just as it seemed the Eva would be completely compressed into nothing, the red coils returned to Shinji, pulling the now glowing and baseball sized 01 into his body! Shinji coughed hard and fell completely backward, his whole body smoking with power as he staged to his feet.  
  
"Man and Eva are now one being, a restored creature. Pilots, you now have the living consciousness of the Evangelons within you to call forth when you need there aide. But be warned pilots…when summoned, the Eva will be subject to your own pains and turmoil's as your souls are now one soul. However, the Eva's are not carried inside of you…they will also remain here in Zion." As Shinji blinked and re0opened his eyes he saw all the Eva units back in their cages!!!  
  
"NERV has been re-assembled here to make sure that when needed, the EVA's will run and operate smoothly. Just was iy was the, the crews that monitored the EVA's will have access to them when they are in use, to guide and aide you in your battles. Together, you are all not only powerful, you are divinely blessed." As the Lord finished, all of NERV went crazy with re- exploring and conversation about what they had just witnessed…truly, they were at the forefront of a new age.  
  
  
  
  
  
Shinji walked along the beach of the crystal sea next to Asuka, the great expanse of perfection and shimmering waters washing the atmosphere in an ever more surreal sense. Although nobody was saying anything, Shinji was overwhelmed by the voices in his head, all demanding he do the one thing he knew he only slightly had the courage to even think of. But as he saw Asuka, her long red hair shimmering in the perfume scented wind…he knew she was the one and more importantly, that they would be going back into war the next "day". Shinji paused in their walk, Asuka turning to see what was the matter. She found Shinji on one knee.  
  
  
  
Tyr and Rei were both home again, in NERV. Rei pressed her hands on the inner walls of the small central dogma room where only a few blocks away Tyr had been "conceived" on the same day. Both born and cursed, both not quite human….both in love and unable to do anything about it.  
  
"You love Ikari…don't you." Said Tyr, his tone empty and upset, as if he was a admitting something that had taken all his soul  
  
"I…did. But now my heart is to be for the person….I now realize that I truly love."  
  
"Truly love?" said Tyr, a hint of life in his voice  
  
"Yes." Rei pulled her smooth skinned hand from the wall and turned to face Tyr, her red eyes enveloped in his sight. "You see…I was always nervous around you. At first I thought it was because I didn't like you…but then you helped us against Aki. Then I thought I hated you when to rejoined her cause and allowed LEGION to invade the base that day. But then, when you sacrificed yourself and your EVA you said "I do this for all the souls who are not whole, for all those like myself.". I knew then I loved you but…."  
  
"…You didn't know if the love would be returned in kind?"  
  
"Yes. That is why…I have remained silent, why I chose to re-embrace my angelic powers when we fought Damien and Aki at the Lance…I wanted to be special, empowered, like you."  
  
"Rei this is totally unlike you. Why would you take in the…loneliness of being an angel…for me? I am nothing special, just a teenager who has lived his life as a puppet to another and then, when they thought I had no use, was dis-" Tyr caught himself paraphrasing Rei's whole life, her once intimate devotion to Gendo's cause parallel to his loyalty to Aki.  
  
"Tyr….I wanted to approach you as one half a soul, a person who is more angel than man…"  
  
"…and I would accept you, a person who is less man than angel…"  
  
"…that together we would embrace and be reborn as the one soul we have so longed to be." In the shadows of the empty room, Tyr embraced Rei in a kiss that seemed to ease a pain that had gone unchecked in both there souls since they were made….the fire of loneliness. Tyr slowly withdrew from the kiss, his face bearing a smile, something he had not allowed himself truly for some time now. Rei let out a small sigh of happiness as she kissed Tyr again.  
  
  
  
Toji sat next to Misato on the side rail that overlooked the crystal sea from the Zion palace, his eyes entranced by Misato's beauty.  
  
"Get any funny ideas and I swear I will throw you from this rail." said Misato.  
  
  
  
The entire assembly of NERV workers, all culled from the heavens and on earth, were all ready to receive their orders, all ready to do there part. The pilots were all in the launch bay, the computer personnel all in their seats and Gendo was at the helm since Yui would be returning to the front of battle. God had re-assumed his form as the mighty entity, whose face remained unseen, his body awash with light and fire and was currently materialized above the GeoFront, where all the angelic hosts waited the words that would re-start the war in there favor…as it was meant to be.  
  
"My children. Today the EVA pilots will return to the parallel realm and begin to turn the tide of battle in OUR favor. By using this revived GeoFront as a physical and spiritual medium, we will be at the forefront of there war and will guide them along until Satan is returned to the pit and the refugee souls returned!" a great cheer went up across Zion, a cheer that would be considered deafening if ever used on Earth. In the launch bay, where all the pilots and Yui were assembled, God manifested himself and with a gesture, replaced there plug suites with the military dress of the day…but they were Russian uniforms!  
  
"Lord…what are we wearing these for. Our band never choose to ally with one specific army….we operated alone." Said Yui  
  
"Indeed you did. But you see, time that has passed here is like a year on Earth and the germens are being driven back by the Russian, there is no need for any mediation army. When you arrive you will be about to witness the return of angel Zeruel…and Gilgamesh will be waiting for him. You will all need to summon you EVA's from within your souls if you are to defeat BOTH these enemies." Before anybody could even say anything they were suddenly in a massive fiery battlefield, its plains littered by the bodies of the dead and dieing. The skies were black with smoke and ash, the smell of death in the air. The once white snow was drenched in blood as everyone gazed at the smoldering ruins of a once prosperous city. Then, in the background, Shinji saw something that made his blood boil with rage, a hate he had tried to forget for a very long time…the angel Zeruel, the monster that nearly killed Asuka, Rei and Misato…the angel that caused him to go monstrously berserk. Shinji suddenly began to levitate off the ground, his eyes filled with a great rage. As he began to fly up into the air his body began to swirl with the red fibers that was his AT-Field physically manifested. The fibers then lashed outward off his arms and legs, filing an invisible void that soon took a monstrous shape around Shinji's body….that of unit one.  
  
"Its Ikari!" said Asuka, her voice weak and in shock  
  
  
  
"Shinji's psycho-graph is off the scale!" shouted Maya.  
  
"He seems to be summoning the EVA out of his need to destroy the angel rather than to defeat the Gilgamesh…where is the Gilgamesh?" said Ritsuko  
  
"Shinji, it would seem, has three enemies now. Two without and one within. I hope he can handle the power he is about to unleash." Said Gendo  
  
  
  
As unit 01 finished forming in the air it landed on the snow and blood coated ground with a massive crash. As 01 lifted its head, eyes narrowed in rage, another monstrous shadow approached, its body black and green, its red eyes narrowed into slits with two targets on its mind.  
  
"I see you have found a way to revive the Evangelions!" said Damien from within the Gilgamesh. "Too bad it wont save you!" With a bestial scream 01 charged the angel…. 


	16. Chapter 14: Hell Spawned, Heaven Sent

CHAPTER 14: Hell Spawned, Heaven Sent  
  
  
  
AUTHORS NOTES: Sorry for such a long delay but I have become enveloped in another fic "NEON GENESIS COSMOS: THE JURAI NVASION SAGA". I once again apologize for the wait but I think this chapter is worth it: Wait until the next chapter when we face Asuka's "Hunter", Heyates and Shinji finally conclude their duel and an old angel is restored to destructive life.  
  
  
  
Shinji had once more had transversed the spiritual plain of his normal consciousness and had indeed become the dark apparition of Ikari once more, his shadowed over eyes hinted with a gleam of crimson that glowed in the darkness of the entry plug. Ikari, the cruel and merciless "other" that existed within Shinji was a thing of extreme emotions, one that would kill to protect and do it with a power comparable to by mere mortals. As the massive figure of Evangelion unit one stood amid the gray smoke and fog of battle its white eyes radiated wildly as it continued its charge, Ikari's power seemingly magnified a thousand fold by the soul and power of the EVA.  
  
With a guttural scream of might EVA unit one, its muscles rippling and tensioned in the lust for battle, leapt into the air. Zeruel turned and looked up to see the purple beast in the skies, its face formed in what Asuka, Rei, Toji, Kawru, Yui, Tyr, and even Damien swore was a smile, like that of a small and sinister child who knew something YOU did not. As Unit one descended from its jump it had only one mission burnt into its actions: DESTROY ZERUEL!! The angel, not as streamline nor as "graceful" as the EVA was none the less as powerful and maybe even more so in the area of brute strength. As unit one tackled Zeruel to the ground the Gilgamesh looked on, its glowing blue eyes waiting to see the chance to strike….but for the time being would allow Shinji to perform his job.  
  
With a strong burst of strength Zeruel pushed the EVA off its shoulders, the EVA's claws leavening bleeding gasped along the angel's chest as it was hurled to the ground. With a loud and bright flash Zeruel shot a bright ray of what seemed to be focused fire and light directly towards unit one. The children and Yui gasped in horror as the bright ray spiraled towards unit one….but unit one stood firm, looking on as the spike of luminance flames bounced harmlessly off its fully expanded AT-Field.  
  
  
  
Zion was in a preverbal uproar. NERV, now reborn as a physical structure within ZION, bristled with commotion as the technicians and commanders all watched the maddened unit one disobey all commands from above and below the spiritual realm. Fuyusuki stood next to Gendo, his hands folded across in his lap as he watched on with everyone else.  
  
"Gendo, what should we do. I would seem the EVA is ignoring the real enemy and is bent on destroying the angel" said Fuyutsuki  
  
"Indeed. Shinji's hatred of the angels has brought about this battle and he will need to snap out of it if he is to achieve victory."  
  
  
  
  
  
Asuka could not hold back her tears of frustration as she saw the one person she truly loved become such a raving monster. Asuka looked at her hand, its finger adorned with a silver ring. "Gold is common, not like you Asuka" That's what Shinji had told her when he asked to marry her. Marriage. Asuka was now forcing back the tears as Yui began to realize the immediate danger everyone was in and thus decided to move to a "safer" location. Asuka didn't turn away, but rather, raced forward, her eyes spilling forth with tears, her hand clenching the ring. Asuka could hear the screams from unit one and the angels battle but didn't care: She would give him his answer before he DIED TOO SOON TO HEAR IT!!!  
  
  
  
Ikari sat inside the entry plug, his own dark thoughts spiraling in the LCL and converting Shinji's mind into the violent creature shining through unit one. The EVA raced towards Zeruel, its arms arched foreword as it used it's own high speed to jump over the angel and land behind it…. giving Ikari the chance to do what it then did: With one strong and focused punch the EVA's fist burst completely through Zeruel's chest, a fountain of blue blood gushing forth. As Ikari pulled the fist out he grabbed hold of the angels skull-like face from around its head, pulled it to and with a well delivered blow, toppled the angel of strength to the earthy ground. Suddenly, from across the field of battle Ikari saw Asuka on his monitors, her actions frantic and erratic.  
  
"ASUKA. GO!" came the filtered voice of Ikari through the EVA's speakers.  
  
"I will never leave your side! YES! My answer is YES, I will marry you!" Asuka screamed at the top of her lungs  
  
Ikari suddenly felt the wellspring of emotions, the one thing that could flush his influence out, erupt from Shinji's very soul as intensified happiness and serenity overcame him. Shinji awoke from his madden daze, his eyes funneling tears as he then turned his attention to Zeruel.  
  
"SHINJI, FINALLY! THIS IS RITSUKO! NOW THAT IKARI ISNO LONGER IN DOMINANT COMMAND WE CAN SENT MESSAGES TO YOU FROM ZION. AS YOU REMEMBER, ZERUEL IS THE ANGEL OF STRENGTH AS THE WAY YOU BEAT HIM LAST TIME WAS BY REACHING A 400% SYNC RATIO."  
  
"I remember."  
  
"If you are going to destroy the angel first, than allow us to do something first, something God has given us access to within the EVA."  
  
"Go ahead then." Said Shinji.  
  
  
  
Everyone on the combat field, both men and angel, looked up in awe as EVA unit one began to soar into the skies, its back glowing and pulsing with rd lightning that arched outward and with one brilliant flash, became a set of fully expanded fiery wings.  
  
Zeruel, as expected, resorted to it's other special ability, one Shinji knew all to well: the angel's arms, once harmless little flaps of muscle and skin, expanded and uncurled into lengthy and razor-like ribbons of hair- spitting steel. With its wings outstretched Shinji charged the bleeding angel, its fists clenched together into a joint fist. Before the angel even got the opportunity to use its lethal "armaments" Shinji had dashed along the ground in a glide of sheer speed and with one violent movement, streaked upwards into the air, its fit pounding against the angel in the recoil. As EVA unit one was in the skies, its megalithic fiery wings illuminating the skies, the entire evangelion began to glow with brilliant bluefish white energy. Zeruel, still on the ground and on its back, shot its razorblade arm upwards, the slivers of death coursing up into the night only seconds away from carving the EVA apart…seconds too late. With the sound of a thunder clash EVA unit one immediately focused its harnessed power and sent it down to the earth as a blue beam of light, with the remnants of the fire wings wrapped around its spiraling spire shape. With all the force of a hurricane the beam struck Zeruel and transmogrified its body to nothing more than smoldering cinders in a matter of seconds, yet the impact caused little damage or even a shockwave. With a mighty crash the EVA crushed what little ash remained of Zeruel, its eyes now a steady white radiance as it looked over to the GILGAMESH, its pilot pondering what to do next.  
  
  
  
Damien cursed under his breath. Not only had the children managed to get their evangelions back but now it seemed they were far more powerful than when last they did battle. Aki's voice suddenly cut through all the GILGI's radio's:  
  
"Damien, these enemies are too powerful to take on here and now! Get back to Bromine as fast as possible so we can re-modify you for battle at there level"  
  
"You have to be joking! I set the levels here! This ends now!" shouted Damien. Suddenly the corner of the entry plug began to glow in a strobeing fashion, its words reading: SELF DESTRUCT ARMED.  
  
"If you insist on wiping them out I can assure you BOTH get what you deserve. Get back to base, NOW!" said Aki has her transmission cut off. Damien was in rage.  
  
  
  
  
  
As Shinji awaited the first move the Gilgamesh instead became enveloped by a glowing luminance and then vanished into the air itself!  
  
"So they can cloak themselves can they?" said Shinji  
  
"The enemy is a deceitful one. Tricky and spiteful is this soul that pilots the GILGAMESH" said God, his form still in that of the radiant warrior.  
  
  
  
Eva unit one suddenly began to glow along its various joints as it began to revert into a glowing wire frame of light that had enveloped Shinji. Shinji could feel the power and soul of the EVA rush into his body like great maw as he began to descend from the skies and hit the ground, his posterior taking up the brunt of the shock. As the other rushed up from there looking positions Asuka was the first to embrace Shinji, her face warm from her hot ears. Wildly she kissed his, with such intensity it surprised even Shinji.  
  
"YES! Yes I will marry you!" she shouted.  
  
"You have no clue how happy you have just made me" stammered Shinji as he caught his breath  
  
"I am more worried now about how happy I am GOING to make you!" Asuka winked and then giggled as Shinji turned as red as the flaming wings of his EVA.  
  
"My son is getting married. How old are you now anyway?" Yui said jokeingly, knowing her son was now at least 18 years old even tough his body had not aged since its arrival in the parallel world, just like Rei and Asuka. But now there were two more young soldiers to worry about, something that was going to take MORE than heaven to help her with when it came time to settle camp.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Damien ejected the entry plug from the GILGAMESH, his face still carrying the hate and disgrace from his "retreat". As he stepped off the main launch platform that was located deep within the layers of Bromines hellish levels he saw Aki and a small team of scientists.  
  
"Damien it has come time for your body to elevate itself beyond that of the normal pilot." She said.  
  
"TRAITOIUS BITCH! How dare you pull me from the battle! I could have achieved victory!"  
  
"The only thing you would have achieved was the ultimate failure for botyh yourself and our cause. You will come with me where I will perfect that arcane shell you call a body"  
  
"Never. This battle will be won without enhancements, without your demonicly corrupt science! I will KILL him myself, alone!"  
  
"Very well Damien, you have one last chance to rove yourself worthy to me and the master. You will accompany Heyates on a mission that will be a triple-fold victory if won…but failure will NOT be tolerated…..do you understand?" Damien nodded as he went to go rest in his private quarters…. 


	17. Chapter 17: NOTICE

CHAPTER 17: The Empty City  
  
AUTHORS NOTES: Well hello there all you happy people. I realize how long its been since I've updated the story but I've had to worry about everything from SAT's, girlfriends and my growing addiction to IM'ing people. This update is just to say I have not forgotten all who supported this FIC and that a slew of new chapters, including the massive "three- part" conclusion, are on the way! Don't hate me, I didn't mean to be gone so long!!" 


	18. Chapter 18: Rouge

CHAPTER 15: ROUGE  
  
NOTE: this chapter was written to "The Best is Yet to Come" from the Metal Gear Solid Soundtrack. If you have never heard this song GO GET IT NOW! A thousand apologies to why this chapter never came sooner but I have a girlfriend now and, well, I also have a life outside of FF.N and it took priority. BUT I have not forgotten those who DO read this saga and its ongoing legacy so for YOU I write this, you know who you are. As I said before, I am sorry bout the delay and I expect to be on schedule wit the conclusion very soon….(I had written the 88 page conclusion but I had to format my comp due to a virus UGH!) Enjoy reading s much as I enjoy writing folks…..  
  
The air was thick with dust and death, the strangling kind of stench and grit and takes hold and wont let go. The whole damned place was clouded with it. Shinji and Asuka covered there faces while Tyr simply made a disgruntled look and moved on. It had been almost a months since the encounter with the berserker GILGAMESH and even longer since they had encountered there one master enemy: Dr. Aki, the insane woman from hell itself, sent to destroy the world in a catastrophic 3rd impact geared to resurrect Satan and bring a new glory to the demon race. Now aided by the forces of Zion in the guises of Gabriel and Michael, the small band of time traveling humans known as FORCE 34 prepared to face off with there final mission: DESTROY THE GILGAMESH EVANGELION AND AKI. Such was there final mission and it would be carried out to the letter. Each of the pilots, although not physically strong, were endowed with the ability to summon there Evangelions to there aid should they need there assistance……but to be summoned in anger was a deadly thing to do as Shinji knew fully.  
  
The Russian front was where most of the fighting would happen according to Zion and it was one city in particular, one so destroyed and desolate its name had been scratched out of peoples minds, where a massive amount of LEGION forces were massing, including the vicious ABEL soldiers, undead beings who served the will of there creator…AKI. Shinji looked over to Yui who was busy driving along the smashed and cracked roadways, his mind trailing off as to how his life had gone so far into his wildest dreams that it was now unrecognizable from its former wreckage. Ere, in the past, he had the love of Asuka, his mother and Rei plus the renewed friendship of Toji and Kaworu not to mention Tyr. Shinji cast off his thoughts of the past as he looked over to the horizon….and there final destination.  
  
The city was isolated along the VOLGA and was in smoking ruins from raids, mines and tank patrols. As the small truck passed beneath what used to be the main gateway they could see bodies hanging….suicides, the hopeless last act in this nightmare. The ground was coated in gray fog-like smoke and dust that amplified the tomb-like image. After driving through more cryptic roads and seeing more ruined shops and homes Yui stopped the car and everybody exited.  
  
"Ok troops here are the mission's details. ZION knows there is enough LEGION forces here to make it look like Aki is in the vicinity. We end this here and NOW" Yui spoke forcefully but softly enough not to make it seem like it was there last mission…. although it very well could be if they weren't careful. Everybody nodded.  
  
"What should we do now. Split up?" asked Toji, his arm resting on Kaworu's shoulder.  
  
"yes. Shinji take Asuka, Tyr go with Rei and Kaworu and Toji, come with me" everyone was silent for a long time before heading out, none of them however sensing they eyes of the shadows that were sizing them up for the final brawl that was to come….eyes that would be all to familiar if they were seen by Rei.  
  
Jens moved his scope along Rei's neckline, his mouth almost salivating at the clean chance he had here now to end the life of his target, his obsession. His finger motioned to the trigger but before he could pull it, before he could release his year long hatred, his hand was suddenly cut off in a powerful move, his blood, diluted with LAZARUS treatment, falling to the ground. Jens screamed in rage and looked over to hiss side. There amid the gray clouds and standing in front of the blurred sun was a tall figure clenching an old katana.  
  
"YOU! Why did you betray Aki!?" Jens shouted. His words fell on deaf ears and he was knocked out in a heartbeat. As he slipped into blackness he could hear the words "Ikari is here" being muttered.  
  
  
  
The eerie silence was as loud as a bomb blast to those who lived in it long enough. The doors of the old hanger bay were opened slowly as Shinji and Rei peered inside. Both entered after a few moments' hesitation and they finally decided it was ABEL free. The place was once a plane construction yard from the looks of the old skeletal building frames and tools lying around. The pale sunlight filtering through the shattered glass was like the whole place had been whitewashed in screams before the occupants killed themselves…..Shinji knew this because there bodies were still there, sprawled over the floor, clutching there guns and riffles. This place was more of a mass vestige to fear than any final battle. Shinji would have cried if he hadn't become to familiar to the sight over the years of killing he had seen….but even this managed to fuel a stream of hot tears. Asuka hugged his arm as they went through on there search.  
  
Tyr and Rei went along the back ally ways hunting for stragglers or enemy soldiers…. anything would do compared to the eerie darkness and gloom that seemed to permeate the air over them in this place. Tyr slung his massive mini-barrel over his shoulder, a creation of his own design, as he watched Rei's back as her and her sniper riffle followed up in the rear. Suddenly, through the fig and dust, a shadow lurked and scratched, its voice eerie and vile as only a gurgling noise could be heard. Then, through a doorway of smoke came a walking nightmare. Tyr clenched his teeth as rei stumbled in fright of its massive form.  
  
"My, aren't we the ugly one." said Tyr as he slung his weapon out. The creature simply formed a smile.  
  
  
  
Heyates stood atop the massive remains of a bank building, his tattered cloak flipping in the wild and howling wind. Out on the distance, along the Volga, he saw his prize: a massive ship filled with LAZZARUS treatment chemicals, in its basic components, waiting to be supplied to germen forces who yearned for life after demise…and Heyates would bring it to them.  
  
Shinji and Asuka continued to search through the massive papers and journals of the deceased workers, there pages littered with thoughts of family and friends but more notably of how the LEGION forces were creating something here, something to "bring death to the skies" and it was so terrible the creators, the men here dead, took there own lives for fear there work would come back to destroy them.  
  
"What could they have been making that would be so destructive?" asked Asuka to herself slowly as she thumbed more blood splattered pages.  
  
"I think I just found out" said Shinji, a gasp in his throat as he said it.  
  
  
  
Tyr smiled at the shadow, his blood alight with adrenaline as he waited to see his enemies full form. The creature was roughly eight feet tall, weighing a good 300 pound easily with all the muscle it was stitched and grafted with. The bestial "man" wore has huge black trench coat that had been stitched back countless times. The bestial mans arms were MASSIVE and adorned with great metal extensions for fingers that had been filed into claws that dragged along the ground as it walked, its body a massive concoction of living and dead muscles that were both neatly and loosely sown on. The man's face was actually two faces….at one time anyway, and one eye was replaced with a VERY crude lens that seemed to refract light and glow with a bluish tint. The creature stopped about seven feet from Tyr who simply perceived it as a large ABEL.  
  
"Sorry ugly, you've got to go." With a wink and a smile Tyr unloaded a volley of ammo from his mini-gun. As a powerful stream of bullets ripped through the demons body it was pushed back into the darkness of the fog, its gurgling moans now moans of anguish. After a few seconds of bullet fire Tyr ceased and turned around to Rei. Tyr however caught the horrified gleam in Rei's eyes as he sensed what he had feared: The creature wasn't even phased.  
  
The creature's body was torn and shattered yet instead of the usual black and coagulated blood flowed a thick orange gel…LAZZARUS.  
  
'Well there big-boy your blood seems to be special eh?" said Tyr cautiously as he eyes the massive metal claws.  
  
"I am Solomon, your destroyer Tyr. Master Heyates made me swear to destroy you."  
  
"Heyates? I assumed all you freaks swore fealty to Aki."  
  
"We no longer serve the demoness! Time for you to suffer." Said Solomon coldly as he arched back his massive legs and leapt up into the air!  
  
  
  
Yui and her two comrades were eyeing the harbor when the boat arrived, its markings germen. As a number of both human and ABEL soldiers went to unload the shipment they were suddenly slaughtered! Yui and the others looked on in fright as seven MASSIVE men in trench coats armed with high powered sub-machine guns moved in from nowhere and butchered everyone in sight!  
  
"Who ARE they!' whispered Toji  
  
"I don't know but they are from Aki's brand of creations. Maybe somebody decided they didn't like the management" said Kaworu slowly, eyeing the decimation that was still going on. Suddenly a gaunt figure entered the harbor, the clouds of fig rolling away to revealed Heyates in a massive tattered cape-like uniform. The seven other "creatures" then bowed solemnly and formed rank before there master.  
  
"It would seem Heyates has gone into the demon making process for himself" said Yui  
  
  
  
Aki sat along the massive work table in her private underground bunker, her mind wild and franticly as she looked over the notes and blue-prints for the ZERO-100, her newest toy to impress the Nazi brass and grant her more funding money. As powerful as she had become she was nothing without funding…. something Manstein went through great lengths to ensure. As Aki was reading over her notes however as Russian entered, his body whipped and flailed.  
  
"Madam Aki, there are reports that the shipment has arrived from Siberia…."  
  
"Excellent. You may go." Said Aki dryly  
  
"…and that everyone is dead aboard the ship and the cargo is being unloaded." The man finished.  
  
  
  
The creatures body was regenerating at an increased rate, Tyr knew that. What he DIDN'T know however was how to kill such a monstrous creature. He was going to have to find out soon cause the creature was coming down FAST.  
  
Shinji and Asuka raced along to the harbor where Yui and the others were, there hands clenching information valuable to there mission. What they saw horrified them both as they saw there comrades being lead, by gunpoint to the harbor below, a smiling Heyates looking on.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile Aki emerged from her desolate thin-tank to send a wave of cryo- fozen ABEL soldiers to the dock to investigate. One thing was for sure; A battle was on the way 


	19. The warrior from Kyoto

Chapter 20: The Warrior from Kyoto  
  
Yui looked into the eyes of the undead creature toting a small caliber machine gun to her face. It wasn't exactly the most frightening situation of her life but there was on thing that was certain: She was nervous as hell. Knowing Heyates was operating independently of Aki was a big risk on his part but more so on the side of the 34th: if Aki were to counter the undead samurai's treachery with armed force there was a good chance many would be killed…including the children. But Yui pushed those fears away as Heyates entered the lower cargo hold of the Comrade, there prison cell and shipment transport of the most mast amount of LAZZARUS Yui had ever seen. Heyates looked more dead than ever, his skin dry and pale from so many revivals, his eyes sunken and black yet holding no less of his darkness than they did when he first encountered Shinji in the snow fields of Stalingrad. But Heyates also seemed tired, as if he had been drained of his spirit, the one that forced him into so many honor duels with Ikari, her sons darker side which emerged in moments of extreme stress and panic…..his self-preservation mechanism.  
  
"I see you made it to the city Madam Ikari" Heyates said coldly, his attention veering to Toji and Kaworu, the other prisoners.  
  
"We came here to destroy Aki and all her forces. It would seem you have the same agenda.' Yui started, hoping to lure the misguided soul to the side of what was right versus sheer revenge which made him as bad as Aki.  
  
"If your going to try and make me change side, trust me, I know enough about betrayal to know you will try and destroy me in the end." Yui sighed in exasperation as she slumped down against the metal wall of her "cell" which was merely an empty storage room in the lower bowls of the ship.  
  
"Why have you gone so far as to betray your creator?" asked Kaworu, his red eyes shining with a charismatic fire that repulsed Heyates slightly….but also opened his mind to conversation.  
  
"If you must know its because she is NOT my creator as I was told. I rummaged through her precious files and found I am the work of a man named Jingoku, a Japanese researcher. My mummified remains were stolen from HIM, a s well as the LAZZARUS formulas. Carmine simply refined them and made this IMITAION bath treatment then killed Jingoku as he slept. I do this as revenge for my master, my resurrector. Aki and Carmine will die for what they did……I swear it as a samurai in the service of Ieyasu Tokugawa, my emperor and lord." Heyates noticed he now had everyone's attention. "Yes, I was once a samurai of a high level, on the verge of becoming a Daimyo in my' lords service. I was murdered however, but that is irrelevant here and now. I will deal with you three after I have killed Aki."  
  
  
  
SOLOMON roared with a guttural scream as he landed next to Tyr, the weight of his arm knocking the red haired boy into a ladder that was once used to get to the second level of the ammunitions plant….where they were fighting. Rei slung her Mausser into position and fired off three shots into the beasts eyes, each one exploding in a burst of red. Tyr used the opportunity to place his mini-gun right under the beats jaw and with a smile; he opened all barrels wide into its cranium, a shower of tattered skin and blood resulting. The beast slumped down with a sudden thud as Tyr...caught his breath after taking the strong blow t the ribs. Suddenly he looked over and saw the oncoming-clawed hand of the beast flying towards him! Tyr ducked the metal claws and saw, in horror; the beast had begun to assimilate a new head! As fibrous cords fused to bone in a matter of seconds muscle forged over the skull and new eyes materialized. Tyr would have unloaded ore ammo into the demon but the massive metal talons were swinging to wildly to adjust his aim….then it turned to Rei. The massive monster charged her, hits body acting as a battering Rei. Rei s thrown several feet and lost her wind, a staggering cough yelping from her lungs. Tyr ran up and jumped onto the monsters back, his gun unloading more bullets into the backside of SOLOMON. The hulking undead shrugged off Tyr and sneered as its wound enclosed in seconds.  
  
"TYR! Get inside the ammo depot!" shouted Rei as she pointed to a door next to him. Try didn't want to leave Rei but him becoming bait to the monster was there only clear way to save her.  
  
"Hey! UGLY!" the monster turned. "Yeah you! Lookey, I am not going to say this more than once but BOY are you a Darwinian nightmare! It looks like Heyates put a pumpkin on your head, puked and decided he found his new husband!" Tyr hated the jokes but was satisfied to see the creature charging to him. Tyr ducked behind the door and waited for the monster to make his entrance…which it did as it ripped open the door after him.  
  
"Show time" said Tyr.  
  
  
  
Shinji and Asuka slinked along the side of the Comrade, trying there best to avoid the lurking bestial SOLOMON patrol guards. Asuka wanted to vomit at there scent but kept her stomach down as best she could. Shinji crumpled the journal entries she had for Yui in his pocket and couched down to the pier floor, his eyes closed. Suddenly red fibrous light streams formed over his head and brow as he made contact with Zion.  
  
"Yes Shinji, we receive you." Said Maya from the Zion control center in the restored GeoFront, now a massive flying island-like fortress deep within heaven itself and watched over by non other than Jehovah himself.  
  
"We have a problem here. Mothers been captured by Heyates and we have to get valuable info to her right now!" Maya moved her hands along the harp- like computer streams of data, analyzing it as her mind raced.  
  
"Shinji, tell me the information and we can relay it through ZION power to Yui, wherever she is." Said Ritsuko, her now long blonde hair flowing in the movement of her words. Gendo looked on with the child-like God as they smiled together: this was why ZION existed, to support the children and monitor there actions against the Shadow.  
  
  
  
Aki and her teams of ABEL soldiers marched along the empty streets of the city towards the docks…whatever was going on she would find out. Damien looked on with her as the port became visible from the horizon.  
  
"Aki, what do you think is going on." He asked  
  
"Whatever it is, I will find out and DESTROY those responsible."  
  
"Personally I hope its Yui and her boy scout troop. I want a rematch for what he did to me last time!"  
  
'Damien, try and remember how much of a failure your mortal body is to you. Besides, the GILGAMESH hasn't been fully unloaded here so an EVA confrontation would be dipterous. We will have to kill the pilots before they can summon here EVA's if they are indeed here….although I suspect they are not behind this."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Why would Yui TAKE the LAZZARUS chemicals? Her mission is to destroy all traces of out ever being here, nor seize them."  
  
"You think to much…….lets just get there. Besides, the ZERO-X can handle the EVA's"  
  
"Are you so sure of your own creation Damien?"  
  
"I know it will work against those children….wait and see."  
  
"I will."  
  
  
  
Yui as kawru and Toji tried to think of a way out of the cell and how to get past the SOLOMON soldiers. Suddenly a voice filled Yui's head. It was MAYA!  
  
"Yui, this is ZION. We are relaying information to you from Shinji since he is unable to find you. Damien and Aki were building an experimental EVA here from a new type of metal since they cant duplicate the EVA's biotechnology. They killed hundreds to cull there organs and blood to make the thing work. It's a flying machine and it is a bestial device hidden under the VOLGA outside of the port. That's why Aki is stationed here. There making a new Evangelion!"  
  
Yui smiled at knowing how reliable ZION was with people like Maya in the works. Yui nodded and looked over to Kaworu and Toji who were also smiling like idiots: they heard the message as well. Now all they had to do was get out and find a way to destroy the new EVA. Summoning the EVA's from within the ship was far to dangerous for both the children and for herself so Yui though of how to escape.  
  
  
  
Tyr walked along the thin spidery walkways, the massive SOLOMON wreaking its way across, swigging its claws in desperate motions. Tyr thought it all rather humorous until he looked around. Massive vats of chemicals were draining into one another in huge amounts and becoming thick orange gel that was collected in a series of small drums: "Oh good lord! IT'S A LAZZARUS facility!" said Tyr. Tyr saw in disgust as three chemicals, one blue one yellow and one orange were mixed and boiled into pipes, treated and spewed out as the infamous orange resurrection formula. Tyr quickly turned his attention however to the massive ammo crates along the walls…..right next to the open VOLGA river. CLICK. Tyr resumed his attention of SOLOMON who had just reached the top level od the catwalks which lead over the main LAZZARUS collection vat.  
  
"You've got LAZZARUS blood right?" said Tyr. SOLOMON sneered vilely. "Why don't you go take a bath in the shit you were born from!" Tyr shouted and he used almost all of his ammo to push out a stream of bullets into the monsters body, not to kill him, but to provide enough force to stun him as Tyr thre the grey skelatl beats over the ledge into the vat. As the moster hit the orange gelatinous slime ot began to boil and smoke, the demons regeneration speed up instantly. Unfortunately it wouldn't help as tyr used the rest of his ammo to ignite the ammo boxes along the wall. The massive explosions ripped the wooden and metal sides open, a massive rush of icy water flooding in. the explosion shattered the vats of chemicals and everything bee a massive mixing bassoon. Tyr smiled and hoped the monster could swim…..but as Tyr looked he found a result even better than a drowned demon, a disintegrating one! SOLOMON screamed in agony as the cold water mixed with the non combined LZARUZ chemicals, creating an ANTI-LAZZARUS that a actually deconstructing SOLOMONS DNA back to the root elements which was a pasty black slime. "Amazing" whispered Tyr as he saw the entire vat of LAZZARUS become a primordial and smoking ooze that was dissolving away with merely water and a few decompositioning elements of the chemicals being applied wrongly.  
  
  
  
Aki and her soldiers reached the port, their attention drawn to Heyates who seemed to be waiting for them, a big smile on his face.  
  
"Heyates, have you secured the apprehension of the LAZZARUS?" Heyates merely said nothing.  
  
"HEYATES! Aki has spoken to you! It is your duty as a samurai warrior to obey her request!" shouted Damien. The mere mention of his past life revolted heyates to the point of rage, his eyes narrowing, his teeth gritting.  
  
"I was a samurai warrior once, yes, its true. I was Mikawa Heyates, a mighty warrior in service to the Emperor Tokugawa Iyeasu. I fought with him at Sekigahara, I saw how he brilliantly used enemy generals to his aide by having them turn on there former masters! I saw the Toyotome regime smashed to dust at the battle of Osaka castle. Yes, I was a samurai with a wife and children whom I never saw grow old. I had a life then, one I can never get back. I was born in Kyoto, did you know that?"  
  
"HEAYTES THIS IS FOOLISH! WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE LAZZARUS!" Heyates wasn't listening, his mind sunk low in the past miseries of his ife, how he was allowed to be murdered by a man named Ikari Kassi. IKARI!. How Heyates hated that family name. They were always behind the throne, manipulating dynamo's, vassals, samurai like himself. But Heyates knew of this and planned to expose them and the SEELE masters. The Ikari's were SEELE apprentices for as long back as he could remember. How Ironic he was not almost 400 years in the future and STILL, that name haunted him. No matter, not anymore. He would pay back the IKARI lineage soon enough. He would avenge the honor he had so vilely taken. He would save the face he had lost. He would avenge himself and the man, Jingoku, whose genius talents were stolen and used to commit the most horrible of atrocities.  
  
"Did Jingoku see you coming Aki?" There was a pause as Aki realized what was going on.  
  
"I see. So you have discovered who it was that REALLY made the LAZZARUS formula. It dosent matter, Jingoku was a foolish idealist who oly saw the LAZZARUS as a means for medical use. He couldn't grasp the concept of real power so yes, we destroyed him. Tell me Heaytes, how many lives had you taken as a samurai warrior in the Tokugawa services?"  
  
"I was a man with honor then. I am not anymore…….but I will fix it all here and now."  
  
"oh really? How is that exactly?"  
  
"I have stolen the core of the ZERO-X."  
  
"YOU WHAT!" shouted Damien  
  
"yes, I took out its angel core with the help of these SOLOMON soldiers I secretly created." As h spoke the solomns emerged from there ambush points, guns armed, some even carrying rocket launchers. "You see, Aki, the cores of the angels create a brilliant anomaly called a Sea of Dirac, a dimensional hole that destroys all that enters it. I have stolen the angel core and rigged it with machinery that will amplify its power until the sea opens and swallows us ALL WHOLE!" Everyone was dead silent as Heyates breathed in the fullness of his master plan.  
  
"YOU FOOL!" said Aki. Heyates sneered at what the foolish woman could possibly have to say. "The ZERO-X doesn't use the conventional angel cores for POWER! The angel cores were to be used to open Dirac Sea's over enemy positions and ensure my financial backing by the Reich. The ZERO-X is operational without it and will now be used to destroy you and your precious soldiers!" Aki pulled out a small radio and spoke into it. 'RAISE THE ZERO-X!" Aki shouted! Everyone suddenly looked out to the shore's distance and saw a massive black shape rising from the water. The machine was shaped like a massive arrow-head, its form contoured with lines of orange that glowed in response to the unholy power that gave it life: LAZZARUS.  
  
"You see Heyates! Using LCL we created an unlimited energy source for the ZERO-X to use ans also operate its guns and missiles. This whole city will be leveled in seconds! HUNTER is the pilot and I assure you, he will be merciless in his job!"  
  
SUDDENLY from out of the distance a set of massive figures emerged, the shapes red and purple as they erupted from the waters. EVA units 1 and 2. With brute strength the seized the sides of the ZERO-X, whose guns and missiles were useless against the EVA armor. In one motion both EVA's pulled in opposite directions and ripped the black machine in two! The twisted black metal and orange blood-fuel fell into the waters and units 1 and 2 turned there attention to the shore where Aki and Heyates were assembled.  
  
"it would seem the enemy has become aware of our plans here." Said Aki calmly. "Damien, you should have been more careful in hiding your creations."  
  
"SHUT UP AND LETS GET OUT OF HERE!" shouted Damien as the small jeep they were in pulled out to full reverse, the ABEL soldiers opening fire on the SOLOMON monsters in a burst of violent fighting. Heyates sneered as he pulled out a remote control and smiled. "Father, into you hands, I commend my spirit." He said as he pulled out a small cross from behind his armor and clenched it in his hand, However before he could hit the remote activation of the angel core device a bullet shot off his hand and the remote in one shot. Heyates looked around and saw Jens, his body only just now having begun to regenerate from the damage dealt to him that morning, a smoking sniper riffle in his hands. Heyates looked over as his body bled LAZZARUS as he had undergone the same treatment as his creations. His hand regenerated but he was now without his remote.  
  
"I assume then I must resort to plan B then" he whispered under his breath, ignoring the enraged Jens only a few dozen feet away above the Pier.  
  
"SOLOMON's….destroy him." Heyates said as he turned to re-enter the ship, his troopers carrying out there mission with brutally grim efficiency. All of Jens'es sniper fire did nothing in the volley of sub-machine gun-fire that then ripped his body to the point of non-regenerative-ness. Jens died, clutching his riffle and the last image eh saw was of Rei Aiyanami running past. Jens guttered out a scream of rage at his fate as he slumped over and was finished off.  
  
Rei entered the COMRADE, her mission now to find Yui and the others. She avoided Heyates as he walked along the ships corridors, choosing to follow him instead. As she followed Heyates muttered phrases, names, battles he had been in. His life had deteriorated before his eyes 


	20. the Last Stand

CHAPTER 21: The Last Stand  
  
NOTE: Well boys and gals, here it is: THE LAST CHPATER IN THE FORCE 34 STORY ARC. After this there is one last book and then the entire trilogy will be completed. * sigh *. It's been so long ago since I first set out to write these stories than I literally don't remember what its base storyline even was. But as I have written I have seen the story shape and evolve into something special and now (despite that DAMN 88 page loss) I have finally come up with an ending that I feel captures the emotional story, the action sequences and the sheer SHOCK factor EVA is so well loved for. Here it is, THE LAST STAND. Originally this was to end with GOTTER DAMERANG (I know I misspelled it) but due to the pace of the story and the setting there is no place for it: instead there is a massive battle in a ghost city……OK, its not as cool but I needed to wrap this up SOMETIME ^_~  
  
  
  
Heyates was tired of living, tired of being somebody else's puppet. He slinked along the innards of the COMRADE, his body shaking with silent rage. He had hoped so set off the device via remote, to embrace the end in silent bliss, but now he was going to have to go and physically end his life and suffer the agony of setting up the machine by hand: such a waste of a warrior's pride. Heyates. Resurrected Samurai of a dead Emperor. Hunter of children, bringer of war. He was truly something terrible and deserved his fate.  
  
Rei continued to walk along quietly, her steps light as air, her eyes keen and fast to notice she depressed warriors turns and steps. Finally, she can to a series of storage room that Heyates entered. Rei peered inside one and saw Yui and her friends, tied and bound, obviously drugged to sleep. Not wondering where Heyates was Rei rushed over and frantically began to shake Yui awake.  
  
"Mrs. Ikari! Please wake up! YUI!" suddenly Yui staggered awake, her eyes crossed, her voice hazed. Yui saw Rei and smiled  
  
"Yui, we need to awaken the others and get out of here! Heyates is going to open a Dirac Sea over the city!" Rei couldn't hold Yui down fast enough as she tried to tear off her bonds. Yui knew the mindless horrors of the void and didn't wish to return because under the agreement with ZION should there souls become entrapped……they would remain so forever.  
  
  
  
The massive units 1 and 2 stepped over the small soldiers and SOLOMONS and they trampled the small nazi contingent force like a collection of coke cans. After initial destruction Asuka and Shinji reverted there EVA's back within themselves, the initial force of the shockwave sending noticeable damage throughout the empty city. Shinji and Asuka then raced over to the COMMRADE. However as they were running a jeep pulled up fast along them and turned to block there path: AKI and DAMIEN. Damien swiveled the mounted machine gun and smiled  
  
"Would you do us the honor of comings with us please second and third children?" asked Aki as Damien trained the gun to Asuka's head. Shinji could feel his anger rising but Asuka nodded to him to say it was all right. Shinji swallowed his rage and got into the back of the jeep.  
  
"Where are we going?" asked Shinji.  
  
"WE, my boy, are going to stop Heyates before he jeopardizes everything I have spent years working on. If he opens that Dirac Sea then the whole city will be consumed in the Void of Hasbalar."  
  
"Hasbalar??" asked Asuka  
  
"Hasbalar was a great Jewish king who, like Solomon, was given a gift of choice by God. He choose the power to see the future and God gave it to him. HOWEVER, Hasbalar became obsessed with occult magic and when he tried to find a way INTO the future he was haunted by god allowed a void to swallow him up. Heyates doesn't know it but by mechanically summoning a Dirac Sea it will open a void into a wormhole that could lead nowhere or anywhere. I don't know about you but being thrown into another random timeline isn't my idea of a good time." Shinji and Asuka didn't want to admit it but they both agreed: Helping Aki was the only course available to them.  
  
  
  
Heyates stood before the magnificently blood red crystalline orb, its power emanating outward as the nodes and robs attached to it pumped energy through its alien infrastructure. With the right setting the energy's input would create a great influx that would collapse the core and open the Sea, just as Heyates wished. Heyates places his hand over the core and smiled…Shinji was coming with Aki, he sensed it in his twisted soul. He smiled and waited.  
  
  
  
Aki pulled up to the pier where the COMRADE was docked as Yui and the others were running out. Yui sneered and pulled a gun, its sights aimed for Aki's cranium.  
  
"Yui, how nice to see you again." said Aki. Shinji and Asuka jumped out of the jeep and raced to there friends as Aki and Damien exited as well.  
  
"You must know as insane as you make me out to be Heyates is doing something far worse. If he mechanically opens that sea we will all go through a dimensional ripple and lord knows where we will be. But wherever we go I can guarantee you there would be kow way to get back to our time."  
  
"You make it sound as if you know how." Said Kaworu  
  
"You would be correct although to be honest I didn't think Heyates would be the one to assemble the materials needed. Yes, I can use my affiliation with The Beast to channel the course of the ripple."  
  
"I would rather be sucked into that nothingness that help you and your master!" shouted Asuka.  
  
"Then you will have to live alone in some desolate wasteland a million years from now, or maybe a million years in the past. Is that a sizeable risk for all this ending?" said Damien  
  
"You are mistaken. We will not join with you even id it meant the ablity to go home: our mission is to destroy you and bring your marked bosy to ZION so the Beast can be re-contained." Said Tyr from out of the shadows.  
  
"Ahhh Tyr, my son. Your looking well I see." Said Aki, a vicious smile overtaking her. Tyr gritted his teeth and slugged Aki in the nose, a stream of blood gushing forth.  
  
"Tyr, you come with me. Toji and Asuka watch these two. Kaworu, Rei, Shinji, come with me." Said Yui. Everyone nodded as the charge began.  
  
  
  
As they entered the lower levels of the ship Rei lead them along the route she remembered and finally the emerged in Heyates'es master chamber, the huge machinery set up seeming to have taken months to create as the angel core glowed eerily.  
  
"Where is Aki? I wanted her to witness her demise firsthand." Said Heyates from a chair, his body slumped and giving the impression that he had given up all hope of redeeming himself from his nightmare. Heyates smiled none the less as he threw Shinji his second sword from behind his robe: "Come now, son of Ikari. Let us end this duel once and for all. My blood lacks the power to regenerate so this would be the final duel…..and if you don't accept we will all go into the void together." Shinji looked at the sword and picked it up, his stance readying. Heyates got up and as he drew his blade Shinji knocked it away effortlessly as Heyates was not too weak to even hold a weapon.  
  
"It would seem that once agin,in my ahst hours, I am beaten by an Ikari. My life is truly a nightmare!"  
  
"If you go through with this the horror wont end but rather it will continue" said Kaworu.  
  
"He is right. Using machinery to open an angel core creates a time ripple. We will all be thrown into another timeline. Aki says she can control the effects but we wont let her near this thing. Heyates, don't give up like this. Come with us to ZION, God can help you." Heyates looked over, his katana clutched in his hands, his fingers worn looking and old as his LAZZARUS was growing thin in his system. As Heyates got up to go with Yui a sudden coldness overtook him, his eyes bulging in pain as what felt like hot sand poured over his body yet it was a cold as ice to his soul.  
  
  
  
Aki reeled in pain as her body writhed and twisted. Tyr and Asuka lowered down to see the woman was going out of her mind!  
  
Heyates suddenly began to levitate off the ground, his body shaking wildly.  
  
"I know this power." said Kaworu…. "The Beast" is here. Heaytes suddenly snapped to reality, his eyes glowing red with inner fire, his body restored to perfect youthfulness. He seemed to glow with evil as he drew his sword.  
  
"It would seem the power that was given to Aki, has now been given to me!" bellowed the samurai, his tone echoing a wellspring of evil in his soul  
  
"HEYATES THE BEAST IS USING YOU! DON'T GIVE IN!" shouted Rei. Heaytes waved his hands as a cosmic backlash struck her, knocking her down.  
  
"I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE ON AKI BUT THERE IS ONE THING I MUST SETTLE FIRST!" Heyates looked to Shinji, the power of hatred flowing over him. "I- K-A-R-I" Heyates hissed. With a powerful blow Heyates knocked Kaworu into a wall, the silver haired boy slumping over in a sigh of pain.  
  
"Heyates you are being controlled from within by the loosed Satan. Renounce his power and we can destroy him, Rei ahs the power to do so! PLEASE HEAYTES. REDEM YOUR HONNOR!" shouted Yui. Heyates suddenly squirmed like a fish out of water, his eyes loosing there fire and then re-igniting at random times, his voice changing like the winds currents. Suddenly in a violent eruption Heyates lost his will ot the Beast and plunged his sword through Yui's chest, the blade clearing her body in seconds. Shinji screamed yet no words came out: his body glowed as his EVA's power was channeled through his palms and exited as a blast of ethereal light that coursed through Heyates, exercising the shadow serpentine form the devil had taken. Shinji stood there, his RAGE manifesting outward as his silent scream continued. Heyates fell to the floor as Satan had now been made visible…..but it had a new soul to overtake, one fettered with rage, one inspired by loneliness, one with the power of EVA unit 1. The shadowy ribbon of shadows entered Shinji's body, bonding immediately and overtaking it completely. Rei looked in horror, as she was the only person in the room with Shinji, now the vessel for The Beast.  
  
"Hello Rei" said Shinji; his eyes empty of any spark of soul or kindness.  
  
"S-Shinji?" said Rei, her voice quivering  
  
"Yes Rei, its me" Shinji said as he waked towards her: re backed away quickly  
  
"NO! You are not Ikari, you are the Beast, sworn enemy of Zion and mankind!" Rei suddenly unveiled her massive angelic powers as her AT-Field visibly expanded, pushing Shinji backwards. Rei's body glowed as she manifested her TRUE form the form of Lilith's first state: a Lovely woman in long shimmering blue and gold robes, white armor beneath a Lance of power in her hands as blood red as the angels core.  
  
"LUCIFER, GREAT DECIEVER AND FATHER OF LIES! YOU WERE TO BE JUDGED LONG AGO BUT YOU ESCAPED! THIS TIME THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU!"  
  
"HAHAH! HURT ME AND THE WRECHED BOY WILL SUFFER MY FATE: BEING CHAINED WITHIN THE EARTH FOR 2,000 YEARS!" Rei's eyes watered as she stretched out the lance.  
  
"It is a sacrifice I an obligated to make!" said Rei. "Shinji, forgive me!" As Rei sent out the light of her lance towards Shinji the angel's core began to glow and pulse, its energy humming. In milliseconds the light of Rei's lance was being absorbed by the core like a sponge, the gores glow intensifying!  
  
"WELL DONE AIYANAMI! USING YOU POWER WE WILL ALL BE PULLED INTO NOTHINGNESS FOR ALL ETERNITY! YOU ARE OPENING THE DIRAC SEA WITH YOUR POWERS!" Rei's eyes burst into tears but suddenly, out of nowhere, Aki jumped onto Shinji/Satan, her eyes wild and she used what little eternal power she had left to pull the withering form of the beats into herself! The, still wrestling with her inner demonic companion she approached the angel core, her eyes wild as it was glowing as a small sun.  
  
"WE STARTED THIS TOGETHER YOU AND I! WE WILL END IT TOGETHER AS WELL!" –"YES AKI! BRING ME BACK TO THE PRESENT SO WE CAN USE THE POWER OF THE OTHER EVA'S TO RESTORE THE ASIER PROPHECY!" "SORRY SATAN!" shouted Aki above the humming whir of the angels core. "SORRY TO DISAPOINT YOU BUT I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHRE I END UP AS LONG AS YOUR POWER IS MINE TO COMMAND!" With a zealous thrust Aki threw the leaver next to the angel core control panel and a light overcame everything in the city, a massive sound wave ripping through buildings and cars, concrete and soil. As Aki screamed in an insane laugh Shinji looked over to his mother, her eyes moving slightly as the red light strobed and grew in the background.  
  
"Shinji, my son! I am fine but we…ARGHHH, we don't have enough time to get away from this. Where ever we end up, know I love you and Asuka dose too!" Suddenly Asuka and Tyr burst into the room with as Kaworu staggered up. Aki laughed as the evil serpent imprisoned in her soul screamed to be released.  
  
In a whirl of speed Heyates emerged from out of nowhere and moved his sword along Aki's chest in a upward strike, the blade shattering bones and muscle in a matter of seconds "FROM HELL HEART…" shouted Heyates ' I CUT YOU DOWN! FOR MY WIFE" Heyates swung his lade along Aki's arm 'MY SON' Heyates slices across her neck 'AND MY PRIDE!!" With all his strength Heyates plunged the blade all the way through her body, so far his arms emerged on the other side, still clutching the blade. Aki gasped along with the Beast as the core of the angel activated, a massive black void emerging and overtaking everything…..and everyone.  
  
  
  
Maya's eyes blinked in disbelief as she looked at her screen.  
  
"Lord…you should see this!' said Maya.  
  
"Yes, I know. They were swallowed in the Sea." Said God, his voice grim.  
  
"Where will they end up?" asked Gendo.  
  
"I can yet tell you. ZION will investigate the matter of safety for that dimension and weather or not Satan has power to manifest ASIER or produce any other archaic darkness's."  
  
"Bur sir, the screen says Aki was killed while Satan was maintained in her. Shouldn't they both end up here for judgment?"  
  
"No, I would know if that was so. The Beast lives as dose Aki."  
  
"What of my wife, and the children?" asked Gendo  
  
"They live as well. They are in a place many thought not to have existed and thus, it provides the prefect opportunity to destroy Satan…..or grant him unimaginable power over the earth." 


End file.
